MapleStory Adventures!
by Mikashimotaku
Summary: Join Violet, Alala, Dani and Blue are their journey across Victoria Island! Training, PQ's, Quests, Bosses and so much more! But when evil threatens their world will they be able to save everyone? What happens when they meet a few people along the way?
1. New Beginnings

**Me: Hey! Some people reading this might know me from writing Yumeiro Patissiere, TAS, Shugo Chara... Well, I also play maplestory. This story started with my cousin and I arguing over who could write the better maplestory story. It's not so much a contest anymore, it's just for fun now. I hope you like this story. Characters! Introduce youselves!**

**Violet: I'm Violet, I'm mostly the 'main' character, though all the characters share main role. My dream is to become a cleric, so I can heal everyone, spreading cheer throughout Victoria Island. :)**

**Alala: I'M ALALA! I'm hyperactive, bubbly and tend to do things without thinking them through. I have a loud voice and scream a lot. I'm a wind archer, wanting to protect the world with all the other cygnus knights.**

**Dani: I'm Dani, I'm a mage at the moment, but I'm going to become a cleric, just like Violet. I am kind, patient and think through everything. I am sometimes easily scared and sometimes it gets the best of me.**

**Blue: I'm Blue, I'm usually straight forward, blunt and a bit mean. I don't mean to be, I had a rough past. I'm a strong ice-lightning wizard, the strongest of the four of us. I hate Zombie Mushrooms and Pigs. I'm quick to critique and always have a comment.**

**Me: Please enjoy! I don't own Maplestory, but I do own my characters like Violet, Alala, Dani and Blue!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

The sun was shining that beautiful day, the tree leaves were a smothered green. Young Violet burst the door open. "Alala!" She yelled, scrambling towards Alala's house. Alala was sitting on her porch, swinging her legs nonchalantly. Her long black pigtails seemed to glow from the sun's rays.

She blinked, "Yeah Violet?"

Violet stopped suddenly, her long black hair rushing in front of her, "Don't you remember what today is?" She inhaled deeply.

"Today?" Alala continued blinking her brown eyes innocently, "What about today?"

"Don't you remember!" Violet exclaimed, "I mean come on... We've talked about this for months! You said you wanted to be a..."

Alala's eyes widened, "ARE YOU SERIOUS!" She jumped up, "THAT'S TODAY!"

"Of course it is!" Violet yelled, "I've had it marked on mine and your calendar for 3 months! We've trained with those stupid clubs long enough. Today is the day to advance! You said you wanted to work bows and arrows, am I right?"

"Of course I do!" Alala answered, "And you wanted to be a..."

"Cleric! C-L-E-R-I-C!"

"Okay Okay!" Alala replied heatedly.

"Only you would forget what job I want!" Violet retorted.

"WHATEVER! We've got to get to town!"

"I'm already in town," Violet smiled brightly, "we live an Ellinia, remember?"

"Hmph, I have to go all the way to Ereve."

"But why Cygnus knight?" Violet shook her head, "You could always just go to Henesys."

"I want to be a **wind archer**," Alala sighed, "I told you; I want to join the Cygnus!"

"Fine, I just hope you have the mesos to pay for it." Violet began walking away, "good luck."

Violet began climbing, up the trees, all the ladders, just to reach Grendel's library. She finally arrived, adjusting her yellow dress she opened the large wooden doors. "Grendel?" She spoke aloud.

"I'm back here child," was Grendel's response. Unlike usual, he was sitting at one of the tables, reading one of those faded old books.

"I-I'm here for job advancement," she replied, putting down the annoying wooden club.

"Let's see," Grendel put down his book. "My my, you've grown so much, you've have gained muscle in the arm I see."

"Yeah, I trained hard against those slimes out of town." Violet smiled proudly, "Alala and I, we wiped those things out."

Grendel laughed, "Well done child, did you remember to bring your potions with you?"

"Yup! Alala and I even made them ourselves..."

"Which did you make?"

"Red and blue," Violet replied, "I've already searched up how to make orange and mana elixers."

"Very well," Grendel nodded, "Did you buy armour yet?"

"I wanted to make sure I could get the job first..." Violet took out a small sack of mesos, "But I have the money to pay for it!"

"Well, I think you're ready," Grendel smiled.

"S-seriously!" Violet exclaimed, "like, right now?"

"Of course," He got up from his chair and walked to the back of his library, he came back with a long silver staff. It was thin, but had a glowing blue orb at the top. "Use this well young child."

"Is that the..." Violet's eyes widened.

"Yup, this is a sapphire staff." He handed it to the young girl.

She traced her fingers along the shiny glass orb, "This is so cool!"

Grendel laughed, "let me give you some magical ability." He raised his hand and Violet felt a wind blow past her. "There," he nodded, "now these are just starter skills, energy bolt, magic claw and magic guard." Violet went through her knowledge, she had to put some skill into energy bolt before she could move onto magic claw... She would also need magic guard to help with her health points...

"Thank you Grendel," Violet smiled, she shook his hand as a sense of 'congratulations' and walked out of the library, "I'm Violet," she whispered to herself, "the magician."

Alala arrived in Ereve after the long boat ride. She sighed, it had cost her quite a bit of her mesos. She shook her head, she need not think of it now. She wandered off right, she had to find Irena, she had promised to let her join the Cygnus once she got stronger. She found the green-headed girl doing target practise behind the empress's castle. "I-Irena?"

"Ah, hello Alala," Irena smiled at her, "You wanted to job advance today right?"

"Yeah!" Alala punched her fist in the air, "I think I'm ready."

"Thinking and being are two different things," Irena reminded her, "why don't you try some archery practise?"

Alala eagerly nodded, Irena handed her a started bow. She placed a barrel of arrows at her feet, "Just aim at the target."

Alala fingered the bow string, she had read all about wind archers, bowmen, even how to shoot and arrow, but doing it was so much different. She took a long arrow from the barrel and positioned it as it should have been. Irena nodded approvingly. Alala shut one eye and began focusing in on the target. She pulled the bow string back, doing her best to keep her arms steady. Then, she let it go. The arrow whistled through the air at high speed. It pierced the target board with a loud thud. Alala opened her other eye. Irena nodded again. She had gotten the arrow on the ring right outside the center. She cursed herself on the inside for not getting the arrow on center.

"Well done Alala," Irena praised, "You've done well, considering last time you almost pierced my head!" She laughed heartily. "I hereby instate you as an official wind archer."

A smile spread across Alala's face, "Really?"

"Yes," Irena gestured to the bow in her hands, "that's your for keeps, take that barrel of arrows too."

"Thanks so much Irena!" Alala felt like jumping up and down.

"Oh, and here's a bit of mesos for armour, you must be wiped out from the boat ride here."

Alala took the mesos greatfully, "Thanks."

"Let me give you some skills," Irena raised her hand as Grendel had. Alala felt the familiar wind, "the skills of a beginning wind archer are, focus, double shot and eye of the amazon."

"Okay," Alala smiled brightly, "I'm a wind archer!"

Chapter 1 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Violet: I'm loving this story. ^.^**

**Dani: I am too! Though I'm not in this chapter...**

**Me: ^.^"**

**Blue: I'm not either, why'd you include us if we aren't in the story? :x**

**Me: You will be...**

**Alala: PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. What's Green and Rhymes With Lime?

**Me: My story, second chapter!**

**Violet: Featuring the KPQ!**

**Alala: Cool!**

**Blue: *Sigh* The beginner PQ...**

**Dani: Level 200's can do it too ^.^"**

**Me: I do not own Maplestory!**

* * *

><p><span>MapleStory Adventures<span>

Chapter 2: What's green and rhymes with lime?

Violet and Alala sat on a bus bench at Kerning City; Violet wished she could tie her hair in a ponytail. She began twirling the sapphire staff around in her fingers.

"I'm so bored!" Alala exclaimed, speaking Violet's thoughts.

"We could go uh, train or something," Violet suggested.

"But the monsters here are annoying," Alala whined, "besides, the subway looks disgusting."

"Then don't complain about being bored."

"Hey, have you tried the new kmernin prtchi qust?" Someone walked past them, Violet hadn't been able to catch the last three words.

"Excuse me," Violet addressed the stranger, "what did you say?"

"I was asking my friend here," He points to his companion, "if he tried the new Kerning Party Quest."

"What's a party quest?" Alala foolishly asked.

"A party quest is like a normal quest, except you HAVE to do it with a party. Kerning's requires 4."

"So it's like a quest, but with other people?" Violet asked.

"Yeah," the stranger gave them the strangest look, "just talk to Lakelis over there." He pointed.

"Let's go check it out," Violet urged Alala.

"I'd do anything but sit on that park bench." Alala agreed, getting up.

Lakelis was standing at the edge of Kerning City; she had long blonde hair that went all the way to her waist. "Excuse me, Lakelis?" Violet asked.

"Yes?" Lakelis answered.

"My friend and I would like to try the party quest." Violet pointed towards Alala.

"What level are you dears?"

"Well, I'm level 22, Alala here is 20."

"You fit the requirements then, do you have two other party members?"

"Well, no. Do you have any other people who need party members?"

"Let me check." Lakelis looked over a list she had, "I have just the two, let me summon them."

Soon, 2 other people were in front of Violet and Alala, one girl, one boy. The girl had long red hair and bangs that covered her eyes. She wore a light pink top and red mini skirt; she held an emerald staff, much like Violet's sapphire one.

The boy had short black hair, a bit spiky on the top. He had a blue sauna robe and red ribbon pig headband. He had a long wooden staff, curled at the top.

The girl stepped forward and pushed the bangs out of her face, "Hi, I'm Dani; it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled, "I'm a magician too, level 25."

The boy didn't step forward but smiled half heartedly, "My name's Blue, nice to meet you. I'm an ice-lightning wizard, level 30."

Alala smiled her childish smiled, "I'm Alala! It's nice to meet you too; I'm a level 20 wind archer."

Violet stepped forward, "I'm Violet, I'm a level 22 magician, thank you for joining us!"

"No problem," Dani smiled.

"Now that introductions are done," Blue cut in, "let's start the party quest." He whispered something to Lakelis and she transported them to the quest map.

The quest map was dark, tall trees with dark leaved blocked out the sun. The ground was marshy. "So what do we do?"

"Talk to Cloto, she'll tell you how many coupons to collect from the monsters." Blue replied, pointing to the liligators.

"Okay!" Alala cheered, grabbing Violet's wrist and dragging her towards Cloto.

"Collect 10 coupons to succeed and move on to the next level." Cloto told them.

"Come on Violet!" Alala exclaimed, "Let's go kill some liligators!"

Alala and Violet climbed up the long vine. Violet stopped at the closest platform to the ground. Hesitantly she used magic claw on a liligator. The blue magic clawed twice before disappearing. The liligators eyes went wide and it charged towards Violet. She shrieked and attacked it again. This time, it died, leaving behind only a single coupon, Violet picked it up, stuffed it in her bag and continued on.

However, Alala had a different method as to killing monsters. She jumped onto a higher platform and yelled, "DIE MONSTERS! DIE!" She grabbed arrows and began shooting arrow after arrow at the liligator, until it died. She sometimes even threw an arrow or two extra by mistake. She picked up the coupon left behind and began jumping around all the platforms killing any monsters that lay in her way.

Violet wipped the sweat of her brow and ran back to Cloto, "I've collected the ten coupons."

Cloto smiled and took them, "For your hard work, you receive a golden pass." She handed it to Violet, "Give it to your party leader."

Violet saw Blue sitting by the portal, "Hey Blue, Cloto gave me this pass and said to give it to party leader."

Blue sighed, "That's me." He reached forward and took the pass from Violet. "Now we wait for Dani and Alala."

Dani arrived moments later, Alala followed after. Blue talked to Cloto and she unlocked the portal. The 4 went through the portal; the next map was much like the first except, there was 4 small vines hanging from each platform. "The second task is to have 3 people on the vines, the right vines and clear the stage."

Violet climbed up the rope farthest left down. Alala took the on her right and Dani took the one on top of her. Blue talked to Cloto, she shook her head. Dani moved to the rope left. Cloto nodded and opened up the portal. They walked through the portal and entered another map, 5 platforms each with a specific amount of cats on each platform. "We have to find the three platform numbers to open the portal." Blue instructed.

Violet stepped onto platform 1, Alala on platform 2, Dani on 3. Cloto shook her head. Dani moved to 4, Cloto still shook her head. Dani moved to platform 5, and Cloto finally nodded and opened up the portal.

"Next," Blue said, "We have to kill all the cursed eyes, don't worry about the passes, we don't need them."

Alala charged at once screaming, "DIE!" Violet and Dani followed with magic claw and Blue hopped up a platform and attacked with lightning magic. Once the map was clear of monsters, Blue talked to Cloto and she sent them to the next map. "Here's where we fight the boss." Blue put a tighter grip on his staff, "The King Slime."

The four climbed down the vine and waited at the bottom. Suddenly Violet, Alala, Dani and Blue came face to face with a gigantic slime. It was taller than all 4 of them standing on each other's shoulders; it was deep green and looked squishy and slimy.

"What is that!" Alala shrieked.

"The boss?" Blue replied sarcastically.

"IT'S HUGE!" Violet screamed.

"Just attack!" Dani yelled, activating magic guard.

Violet charged and swung her staff, magic claw lashed at the huge slime; it turned and shook, summoning thousands of slimes.

"AH!" Alala was fighting slimes, "GET OFF OF ME!"

Blue used his ice magic to freeze the slimes, "Kill them!"

Hastily Alala tried shooting an arrow; she missed and almost pierced Dani's head, "Hey! Watch it!"

"Sorry!" Alala cried, she shot again and killed a frozen slime.

Violet was still swinging her staff like crazy, magic claw lashing. Dani went to help her, but got pushed back by more slimes, Alala was running out of arrows. "TOO MANY SLIMES!" She was screaming.

Blue pushed his way through the slimes, "Dani! Alala! You guys fight off the slimes, Violet and I'll get the King."

Dani nodded, summoning more magic claw, "Got it!"

Blue looked over at Violet for confirmation, "Ready?"

Violet activated magic guard, "Yeah!"

"GO!" Blue began summoning lightning magic, striking the monster by the head. Violet was covering the base, spamming magic claw.

Suddenly Violet stopped, "I need a potion!" She grabbed her sack of potions, "COVER ME!"

Blue sighed, he used ice magic to try and freeze the King Slime. No such luck, "HURRY UP!"

"I AM!" Violet yelled, gulping down the orange potion.

She was back to fighting, the King Slime didn't seem to be tiring, neither did the slime spawn stop coming. "I'M OUT OF ARROWS!" Alala screamed.

Dani hastily tossed her an extra barrel she had picked up. "Come on!" Alala used double shot. Finally Dani and Alala managed to get rid of the multitude of slime spawn, "We've got to help Violet and Blue."

Violet and Blue were fighting like there was no tomorrow, "HELP US!"

"Violet!" Alala yelled, "BLUE POTION!"

"Right!" She screamed back.

"NO!" The King Slime screamed in defeat and disappeared, leaving only a pass and pair of slime shoes behind. Violet picked up the shoes, while Blue took the pass. "Who said you could take them?" Alala whined, "I worked hard too!"

"S-sorry!" Violet replied hastily, "I can give them to you if..."

"Their untradeable," Blue cut in, "Once you pick it up, it's yours."

"Ah, I see. Next time then Alala?"

"FINE! Alala dibs the next one!"

They exited the party quest map after doing the party quest 3 times. Violet had levelled to level 25, Alala to 23, Dani to 27 and Blue to 32. "That was fun!" Alala cheered, "Do you guys want to be friends?" She asked Dani and Blue.

"Why not?" Dani smiled, accepting the buddy request.

"I've got enough space for more friends," Blue replied, also accepting the request from the two.

"Let's go train Violet!" Alala grinned, "We'll head off to Henesys, see you guys around!"

"Okay!" Dani waved, "Goodbye!"

Chapter 2 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Second chapter finished!<strong>

**Blue: Think I figured that out when I saw the 'Chapter 2 End.'**

**Alala: Stop being so cruel Bluuuueeeee!**

**Violet: You need to calm down Alala ^.^"**

**Dani: You people need to stop telling people what to do :P**

**Me: Please review!**


	3. Scars From The Past

**Me: Hello! Here is chapter 3 of my story!**

**Violet: It is pretty good! I had to proofread :P**

**Me: ^.^" Ahaha... Well just a heads up, in this chapter I used the 'Zombie Mushmom' just so I don't get reviews asking me this question, I DID change the level of the Zombie Mushmom, just so that it would fit into the story better. Is that alright with you guys? I hope so.**

**Alala: MIKASHI DOESN'T OWN MAPLESTORY! JUST HER CHARACTERS!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 3: Scars From The Past

Alala managed to drag Violet to the town taxi. She pushed her in, "Henesys please!" The taxi revved up and shot across Victoria, dropping Alala and Violet in Henesys.

"What are we doing in Henesys?" Violet asked, "All the monsters at the training place are low levelled."

"Oh come on Violet!" Alala pouted her lip, "Let's go kill a snail or something!"

"Snails, you dragged me all the way to Henesys, to kill snails?"

"Do I look like I would train snails?"

"No."

"Because we aren't!"

"Then why are we here?"

"To go exploring, DUH," Alala replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Exploring?" Violet questioned.

"Stop being so uptight," Alala whined, she grabbed Violet's wrist and dragged her toward the portal leading to outside Henesys, "LET'S GO!"

"ALALA! LET GO OF ME!" Violet yelled.

Alala released her grip on Violet and positioned her bow, "Ready to explore?"

Violet sighed, "Sure."

Alala gasped, "We should invite Blue and Dani!"

"Go ahead."

Alala opened her cell phone and texted them,

_Alala: DANI! BLUE! Violet and I are going exploring outside Henesys, want to come? ;)_

_Dani: I'll come! I levelled to 28 while you were gone :)_

_Blue: . There's nothing better to do atm. I'll come._

_Alala: Atm?_

_Blue: At the moment -.-"_

Alala closed her phone, "They're coming!" She smiled. Suddenly, her cell phone beeped, signalling an incoming text.

_Maple Story Administrators: WARNING! Reported sightings of Zombie Mushmom reported outside near Henesys!_

Violet's eyes widened as she read the message, "Isn't that around here?"

"Yes!" Alala squealed, "IT IS!"

Violet gulped, "Then maybe we should go exploring some other time..."

"VIOLET'S A CHICKEN!" Alala teased, "Come on, we can kill it if we want!"

"But what if we can't? We'll just have wasted pots and..."

"So?"

"Well, for one thing, they cost money..."

Alala sighed, "Come on Violet! Live a little!"

"Fine," Violet replied, "ONLY because Blue and Dani are coming."

"What do they have to do with it?"

"Blue is a high level, surely he could be a big help. Dani's levelled to 28, with them; we have a small chance of beating the Zombie Mushmom." She felt a tap on her head, she turned around.

"Why are you talking about me?"

"Blue!" Violet exclaimed, "I was just telling Alala that..."

"She's a chicken!" Alala winked.

"I AM NOT A CHICKEN!" Violet yelled, "but anyway, I was just telling her how high levelled you are, you could help beat the Zombie Mushmom easily."

"Wait, the Zombie Mushmom is in the area?"

Violet nodded, not sensing Blue's eerie vibe, "Yup! Alala just got the text from the maple administrators."

Blue switched his staff to an even higher levelled one, "I want to kill that mush**beast **once and for all."

"What do you mean?" Alala asked, "Have you fought the Zombie Mushmom before?"

Blue sighed, "It's a long story, do you really want to hear?"

"I would," Alala nodded.

"What story?" Dani asked, walking up to the trio. Blue took a seat on his green fold up chair, "The Zombie Mushmom story."

Dani's eyes clouded, "Go on, tell them."

*****  
>(This will be in the point of view of Blue) "I was a beginning mage, contented with my 'energy bolt' move. I had yet to level and add the skill magic claw. I made friends with lots of people, I was a friendly person after all. My friends all seemed to level higher than me, they all towered over me at level 30, while I was still just beginning. One day my friends told me they played a trick on a beginning girl. She hadn't job advanced, she was actually on her way to Ellinia, to be a mage. Apparently the girl asked them what was the way to Ellinia, and they told her the directions to the level 33 boss, Zombie Mushmom."<p>

Alala gasped, "How could they do such a thing?"

I sighed, "I don't know, they were just trying to be funny I guess. Well anyway, they asked me if I wanted to see the poor girl lose to the boss. I reluctantly agreed to them, seeing as they were my friends and expected me to come. Well, we got to the place where the Zombie Mushmom was, I saw a small girl, she had pale skin, and big brown eyes. She was wearing the beginner clothes, a white tube top, indigo skirt and leather sandals. She held a tiny tin sword, she was trembling. The Zombie Mushmom would surely knock the girl out with contact. She was in near tears, running around trying to slash it with the flimsy sword."

Violet's eyes were glossed with tears, "I feel bad for that girl."

"I did too," I replied, "So, I immediately yelled at my friend,

'Why did you do that to her?' I yelled, the young girl tripped, scraping her knee. She winced in pain but got up and continued trying to run away, now with a slight limp.

'Just chill, if she gets it, she gets it.' They replied back to me.

'But what did she ever do to you?' I yelled, 'what did she do to make you hate or on her like that?' I thought for a moment when the realization hit me, 'You would have done this to me, if you didn't like me...'

My so called 'friends' smirked, 'Of course we would have, but you're different.' The leader but his hand on my shoulder, 'you're cooler than Ms. I'm going to be a mage.'

I slapped his hand away, 'I'm going to go help her.'

They laughed at me, 'What can a beginner mage with energy bolt do against a level 33 monster?'

I glared sharply at them, 'I can be the one to show her kindness, unlike you stone hearted jerks.' I walked away from them at that moment. I stepped down to the main ground, it was bumpy and tangled with tree roots.

The girl was cowering in a corner, the Zombie Mushmom advancing. It was about to hit her when I screamed at the top of my lungs, 'HEY! ZOMBIE MUSHMOM!' The Zombie Mushmom whipped around to face me, her eyes glowed red and she yelled out her battle cry. Suddenly she seemed much more intimidating. The girl's scream echoed across the map as the Zombie Mushmom charged at me. I swung my staff, summoning energy bolt, it hit the Zombie Mushmom who didn't seem to be affected. I ran around it, glad that it had a hard time turning around. I scrambled across the map, and landed beside the young girl. Her cheeks were smudged with dirt, her knees scrapped, she was shaking and terrified. My only thought was, I have to save her. The Zombie Mushmom came charging at us, I swung my staff again. Nothing happened, then the Zombie Mushroom rammed into us. I was hit full force, trying to use my body as a shield for the girl. The Zombie Mushroom roared the two of us dropped to the ground. The girl's eyes squeezed shut in pain, her cry of pain ringing through my ears. She looked at me and gave me a weak smile, 'Thank you for trying to save me...' her voice seemed to get softer, my lungs felt like they were on fire. I felt someone picking me up, I heard a cry of pain from the Zombie Mushroom, and then everything was silent."

Violet and Alala looked quite shaken; a single tear ran down Violet's face. I carried on, my voice faltering, "I woke up in a mushroom hut, a girl named Maya placing a wet washcloth on my forehead. My head throbbed, my limbs felt disconnected. I was beat up and bruised, 'Where is she?' I asked Maya.

'Who is 'she' dear?' She asked.

'The girl, the one in the white tube top.'

Maya quieted, 'She died on impact.' From that day I've been training non-stop, just waiting to be strong enough to re-challenge Zombie Mushmom, but I haven't seen her since. This is my chance to finally get my revenge."

"Do you know the girl's name?' Alala asked.

"Maya had identified her, her name was apparently Riena."

No one spoke, suddenly the 4 heard a long, piercing battle cry, sounding so familiar to my ears. Dani seemed to pale, "I think that's..."

I nodded, "Zombie Mushmom."

Chapter 3 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Chapter 3 is finished, chapter 4 is in progress, please bear with me as it might take me a while to write it.<strong>

**Blue: Psh, please, you could do it, you are just too lazy.**

**Me: I AM NOT! I have other stories, like my stories for Yumeiro Patissiere, Shugo Chara...**

**Dani: I think he gets it ^.^"**

**Me: I hope so -.-" PLEASE REVIEW!**


	4. There's No I In Revenge

**Me: Hey People! :D Today I have a 2 chapter update for my story! Enjoy!~**

**Violet: Why do you have two chapters?**

**Me: I wrote this one a while back, I just never had a chance to upload because of school. The next chapter is more recent though. :D**

**Blue: ... Wow.**

**Me: -.-"**

**Alala: MIKASHI DOESN'T OWN MAPLESTORY!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 4: There's no I In Revenge

Violet scrambled behind Dani, squeezing her arm, "I-it's the Zombie Mushmom!"

Blue gripped his staff, "Time for revenge."

Dani shook Violet off of her, "It's just a Zombie Mushmom Violet..."

"BUT IT'S HIGHER LEVELED!"

"Overacting," Blue coughed.

"SHUT UP!"

The massive Zombie Mushmom paced around the map. Violet, Alala and Dani were staring at it; Blue couldn't tell if they were scared or excited. "So?" He asked, "Are we going to kill it or not?"

Violet slowly nodded and brought up her staff, "Right!"

Alala aimed her arrow at the mushmom's eye, though she missed as she bounced away, the arrow whizzing by her face.

This however caught the monster's attention. She screeched a loud battle cry and began charging at them. Violet's first thought was to run, but Blue grabbed her wrist before she could even turn around, "Don't even think about it!" He snapped.

Dani was the first to attack, summoning magic claw. The small attack clawed at the monster, leaving nothing put a small scratch on her shiny cream skin. The monster roared loudly, clearly annoyed by Dani's antics. The zombie mushmom stopped and shook. Releasing upon the four, a swarm of Zombie mushrooms. Violet joined Dani with the magic claw, Alala used double shot. Blue on the other hand didn't want to wait, he teleported right through the monsters. He raised his staff, summoning a powerful magic within him, wind rushed through his black hair. A white lightning sparked around the top of his staff. Soon the power rushed upward, the lightning stretching out and shocked the mushmom. Then swinging his staff powerfully, he summoned ice, freezing the mushmom to the ground. She roared out in anger.

Dani, Violet and Alala were already pushed far back with Zombie mushrooms. "There's so many!" Alala wailed one was trying to climb up her. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed, shoving an arrow between its eyes. It moaned and fell down in pain.

"Blue!" Violet yelled, "Are you okay over there?"

Blue looked back for a second, he seemed like he was starting to tire out. "I'm fine!"

Violet swung her staff at another Zombie mushroom, trying to clear a path for her, Dani and Alala. Her efforts were failed, as the zombie mushrooms circled around them, beginning to close in on them.

"Blue!" The three girls cried out, "Help us!"

Blue turned around in an instant, breaking his concentration. The Zombie mushmom took the chance and forcefully broke free of the ice. The ice shards sliced into Blue's back and arm. Stumbling onto his back, Blue fell, his staff slipping out of his fingers to the Zombie mushmom. "Blue!" Dani yelled.

The zombie mushroom forcefully knocked the staff out of the way. It slammed against a tree, far from anyone's grasp. Blue tried to stand up but the zombie mushmom pushed him down. The three girls screamed. Blue rolled over in pain, the zombie mushroom kicked his shoulder. "OW!" He wailed.

The 3 girls forced their way through the clingy zombie mushrooms, Blue thought he could feel his heart thudding in his head. His vision was smothered with black dots. The girls were standing in front of him, trying to keep the monster away from him. "Alala!" He heard Dani call, "Grab Blue's staff!"

Alala scurried off to grab it. Violet dropped down beside him, "Blue? Can you hear me?"

He gave her a small nod, Violet bit her lip, she reached into her travel case and got out a white potion she had picked up. She propped his head up and let her slip the liquid into his mouth. A shock ran through his body, his vision cleared so he could see Violet hovering over him, getting bandages out of her bag.

"Hurry up Violet!" Dani screamed, "I can't keep it away forever!"

"I'm hurrying!" She snapped back. She began cleaning the cuts on his arm. Wincing, Blue let her wrap them up. She stood up, "Alright! You should be better soon, when we get back to town, we'll get you fully checked." Alala came running back with Blue's staff in her hands.

"It's a bit chipped up," She said, running her hand along the staff, "But it should still work."

Blue grabbed the staff from her, "Yeah, it should." He gave them a smile, "Alright, let's kill us a monster!"

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Dani: And please review!**


	5. Victory Isn't Always Easy

**Me: Here's chapter 5!**

**Violet: Enjoy!**

**Dani: Mikashi doesn't own MapleStory!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures!<span>

Chapter 5: Victory Isn't Always Easy.

Alala readied her bow, lifting it up into position she looked at the 3 others.

Blue gave a nod, "On the count of three."

"One,"

"Two,"

"THREE!"

Blue summoned lightning magic, Dani and Violet magic claw, and Alala double shot. The attacks bounced lightly on the Zombie mushmom's back. She turned around, staring at the 4 with her glowing red eyes.

Violet gulped, freezing in terror. Alala nudged her, "You don't have to be so afraid!" She whispered.

Nodding, Violet gave her a small smile, "I know."

"COME ON GUYS!" Blue was already advancing.

Running forward, Violet and Alala rejoined Blue and Dani and they stood in a semi-circle around the zombie mushmom. Dani on the far left, followed by Alala then Blue, and lastly Violet.

"GO!" Blue lifted his staff up high, a shock of ice struck the zombie mushmom in the head. Wincing slightly, the zombie mushmom took a heavy step back. Alala shot an arrow at the base, causing her to fall over.

"Yes!" Dani and Violet cheered. They cautiously stepped up and clawed the monster's eyes. The mushmom clearly didn't like that. She rolled over, knocking down the 4 like bowling pins. Violet's head pounded, she thought she could hear her blood rushing in her ears. She fumbled to curl her fingers around her staff. She shakily stood up and staggered forward. The 3 others looked as though they were in similar predicaments. Violet grabbed a white potion from her travel sack, the cool drink chilled her throat, energy began pulsing through her veins again. Suddenly she heard a loud, high pitched scream, it could only belong to one person. Alala.

Violet turned her head, "Alala!" She screamed in terror. The wind archer was pressed against a tree, the zombie mushmom advancing, an angry look on her face.

Blue and Dani turned too, Alala stood helplessly, so scared she couldn't even hold the bow correctly. She shot, but missed miserably, striking a tree meters away. She screamed again, not knowing what else to do. Blue felt like his limbs were frozen, suddenly Alala seemed to be replaced with the girl from long before. Riena. The poor, helpless look, the wide terrified eyes. Everything was just like before. Adrenaline rushed through Blue's body, he charged toward Alala, his heart beating fast, inhaling as much oxygen as his lungs could handle. "BLUE!" Dani and Violet shrieked.

Alala was shoved out of the way, crashing to the ground, her black pigtails blinding her eyes. Blue took whatever the zombie mushmom felt like lashing out on him. Each attack was like a strike of a whip. It felt endless to the point of numbness. "STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" Dani and Violet yelled, angry with the monster.

They swung their staffs together, magic claw leaped from the staffs, clawing deep into the mushmom's ghostly white skin. Screaming a high pitched cry the zombie mushmom charged forward, it's eyes glowing a malicious crimson. She slammed the two magicians with full force, knocking them far back to an overgrown patch of weeds. The weeds were rough and sharp, slicing into their skin. Blue closed his eyes, trying to regain some feeling in his limbs. He finally curled his fingers back around his weapon. He ran to Alala, still sprawled across the floor. He helped her up and handed her the bow.

They ran to Dani and Violet, who were still recovering from the sting of the cuts. The zombie mushmom was clearly harmed now, the slaw marks marring her porcelain coloured skin. She shook again, summoning more of her mini clones. "More zombie mushrooms?" Alala wailed.

The happy faced monsters jumped gleefully, humming some odd, eerie tune. "Are they humming?" Blue asked, annoyed by the mushroom's carefree attitude.

Violet glared at them, "They are! Do you think they're mocking us?"

Dani had the same look on her face, "I think they are."

"I officially hate zombie mushrooms." Blue hissed, he raised his staff and summoned lightning. It crashed down on the small swarm of mushrooms, they made a high pitched screaming noise and scrambled around. He gritted his teeth, "Are they seriously running away?"

The four chased after different mushrooms. The mushrooms were bouncing around in a line, preventing them from getting to Zombie Mushmom. Alala moaned, "We have to kill them too? Every time I try and kill them they run away! And then when I try to go forward they come back!"

Violet nodded in agreement, "They do the same thing to me!"

"And me!" Dani chimed in.

Blue remained silent, his eyes were closed like he wasn't paying attention to them. "Blue?" Dani asked, gently shaking his shoulders. He didn't open his eyes, but stopped Dani from touching him.

"I'm coming up with a battle strategy, hold on." He continued standing there, the 3 girls just watching him intently.

Alala tapped her foot impatiently, "Blue, could you hurr- mph!" Violet covered her mouth, shooting warning looks at her.

Blue opened his eyes, "I've got it!"

"Does everyone get the plan?" Blue asked.

The three nodded affirmatively. Alala grabbed Dani's wrist, "We're ready!"

"Alright!" Blue replied, "Let the plan begin!"

Blue and Violet ran to a corner, Violet began waving her hands wildly, "YOU WHO! ZOMBIE MUSHROOMS!"

"Come over here!" Blue said, waving her hands as well.

The mushrooms stared at them, wondering wether or not they should approach the mages. Deciding against it, they wandered off into the exact opposite direction, bumping into none other than Alala and Dani.

"Going somewhere?" They asked.

Squealing in fright the monsters tried to scatter. Blue, broke into a sprint, bringing up his staff he summoned ice magic, freezing the monsters to the ground.

"Alright!" The four cheered victoriously.

Dani and Violet used a fury red magic claw. Blue used a strong lightning bolt and Alala used double shot. In a series of wails and yells the zombie mushrooms fell over, then sparked and seemed to disappear.

Blue nodded, "Okay, part one complete. Part two begins; we're not going to mess up this time."

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Okay, Okay, I know this is taking them a long time to kill but I promis it'll be over by chapter 6 Dx<strong>

**Blue: At least she's being cautious with detail.**

**Me: Thank you Blue!**

**Blue: Don't get used to it.**

**Me: *Sigh* Alright, Please review!**


	6. Dead End

**Violet: We've been gone for so long... -_-**

**Alala: BUT Mikashi has an awesome chapter ready!**

**Me: Climactic too, errr, sort of. O.O**

**Blue: Get on with it then!**

**Dani: Mikashi doesn't own Maplestory!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures!<span>

Chapter 6: Dead End

Blue scanned the others' faces. They looked ready and determined. Dani nodded, "We're ready."

The four approached the Zombie Mushmom in a line, Violet on the end, followed by Blue, Alala and then Dani, walking slowly to not provoke her. Alala took a step forward, keeping surprisingly steady, "U-um, Zombie Mushmom?" She said softly. Her voice quaked slightly, afraid the boss might attack her again.

The Zombie Mushmom ran her blood red eyes up and down Alala. She stared at Alala's bow with a sick look on her face. Alala gulped and slowly lowered her bow to the ground. The Zombie Mushmom stared at her barrel of arrows. Alala's skin went pale but she laid down her arrows too. Zombie Mushmom shifted to look at Violet, Blue and Dani. They looked at each other and put down their staffs and wands. Zombie Mushmom seemed content then and stood still where she was. The four walked up close to her and she didn't flinch. Blue smiled and gestured for everyone to sit around the Zombie Mushmom. Dani, taking the brave role, sat in front of her, staring her in the eyes. Blue sat behind her and Violet and Alala at her left and right.

They sat there for who knows how long, but no one moved, not a single person. After sitting for minutes, Violet finally spoke, "U-um," She squeaked, "H-hello..."

The Zombie Mushmom gave her a look, and grunted, in her form of communication. Alala lay down on her back, "How long is this going to take?" She whispered toward Blue.

He shot her an angry look; Dani pressed a finger to her lips.

Alala pouted but remained silent. Violet hiccupped and got up. "U-um, Zombie Mushmom?"

The Zombie Mushmom grunted her reply, running her red eyes up and down Violet again. "We were wondering if you would follow us around the map, we w-wanted to show you something you might like."

Zombie Mushmom's eyebrow rose, but she seemed to nod and make her way to Violet. Violet hastily gestured for Dani to follow her.

They walked across the open part of the map, to wander into the dense forest. The trees' leaves were dark green, spotted a sickly yellow. "A-are the trees here diseased?" Violet asked Zombie Mushmom hastily.

"Gr," Zombie Mushmom grunted.

Dani laughed nervously. Soon later, Dani and Violet together pushed away bramble to a somewhat space the trees had not occupied. A glint of sunlight slipped past the deep green foliage to cast an eerie shadow across their faces.

"Let's take a break, shall we?" Violet hiccupped nervously.

Zombie Mushmom went ahead of them and seemed to stand there, waiting for them to come together.

Dani made some sort of squeaking noise, grabbed Violet's hand and pulled her along to sit with Zombie Mushmom. Violet picked some berries off a bush, "Can we eat these?" She asked Dani.

The red-headed girl nodded, though looked paler than usual. Violet handed her some and offered some to Zombie Mushmom. Her eyes glinted with malicious hatred, "GRR!" She yelled.

Violet almost screamed, but Dani clamped a hand down on Violet's mouth, "Mph!" Violet exclaimed, muffled quietly.

Chewing slowly, Violet seemed to have gone red in the face, holding her breath as if she would get attacked if she did. "Violet," Dani whispered softly, "you can breathe..."

Violet exhaled loudly, Zombie Mushmom became restless, cautiously shifting. "Where is...?" Violet mouthed, her eyes showing panic.

"I don't know..." Dani mouthed back, looking equally scared.

Suddenly, Zombie Mushmom made a roaring noise and fell forward, almost crushing Violet and Dani who scrambled out of the way. Alala fell out of the bushes, her eyes wide, she had been watching and surprised their plan had actually worked.

Zombie Mushmom sparked, before disappearing, Blue was standing behind her, a bloody arrow gripped in his hand.

XxXxX

"That was brave you know," Violet mused, the four were back in Henesys, sitting in mushroom park.

"Not really," Blue said blandly, "Any of us could have done it."

Alala was smiling, counting her share of the money the Zombie Mushmom had dropped.

"But..." Violet continued.

"It's fine," Blue said sharply, though he looked glassy eyed.

Dani leaned in close to Violet, "He's thinking about Riena."

Violet quieted down, _I wonder, really, who was Riena? She can't have been really developed in her skills yet, but... What could she have become?_

XxXxX

Later, the four walked out again, on their way to the six path crossway. Once there, they climbed up the ladder towards Ellinia. While walking through the path, with a faded sign reading, 'The Tree That Grew', they heard a rustle in the trees. Alala was reaching for an arrow, the 3 mages gripping staffs, "Who's there?" Blue yelled.

Suddenly, a girl with pale skin and messy brown hair fell to the ground. She groaned and sat up, "I've got to work on tree jumping..." Her hair was pinned up at the top of her head in a messy bun, staying in place with a heart clip. She was wearing a blue requierre and red heart earrings. Her purple eyes blinked happily, "Hello!"

Blue's eyes turned to slits, "Who are you?"

"Me? Well I'm..."

A shadow flickered across the trees before disappearing. The brown-haired girl squealed and ran for a tree. She started climbing up, rather fast like a spider. She looked down at Violet, Blue, Alala and Dani. "I'll tell you who I am in a second, but if you wish to **live **follow me right now!"

"What?" Alala wailed.

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, but..." Dani began.

A snap of branches was heard, the girl's eyes widened, "Hurry!"

"But..."

"HURRY!"

The four scrambled up behind her. They sat in the branches hidden safely, so safely they could no longer see the ground, due to all the leaves around them.

"Just who are you?" Blue asked.

Suddenly, another girl with long curly hair and very pale skin seemed to have emerge from the leaves in the trees, Alala almost screamed. The new girl huffed, "No need to make a scene," She smiled, "keep quiet, we'll explain later."

"But...!" Violet pressed.

The brown-haired girl reached over and pressed a finger on Violet's lips, "Shh!"

An eerie voice was heard from far down below. It sounded so cold and the top of the tree suddenly seemed as cold as frozen tundra, "WHERE ARE THEY?" He roared.

A squeaky little voice was heard as well, "T-they were right here sir, I swear!"

"They don't appear to be now, do they?"

The little voice squeaked nervously, "B-but! I saw them! That other girl's hair colour isn't hard to miss..."

"Silence!" The colder voice quipped, "I will not tolerate sarcasm!"

"It wasn't sarcasm!" The other person wailed, almost desperately.

"Well what are you waiting for? FIND THEM!"

"Y-yes sir!" The squeaky one said, they heard him scurry off and the portal being opened towards another map.

Blue's mouth was hanging open and Dani looked horrified. Violet looked nauseous and Alala was a sickly white.

The brown-haired girl shook her head, and opened her mouth. Her words forever engraved in their hearts. _"The Black Mage is back."_

* * *

><p><strong>Violet: DU-DU-DUN!<strong>

**Blue: No, just... NO.**

**Violet: T.T**

**Alala: Lighten up guys :P**

**Me: ^.^**

**Dani: Please Review!**


	7. Show What You've Got

**Me: I'm back! :D**

**Violet: Yay! New chapter!**

**Blue: Don't dissapoint me, you took so long after all.**

**Me: ... Sorry.**

**I do NOT own maplestory.**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 7: Show What You Got

"What?" Violet whispered sharply.

The brown-haired girl nodded grimly, "The Black Mage had been revived."

"B-but how?" Alala's lip quivered.

The girl with the long curly hair shrugged, "No clue, haven't a trace."

Blue had a sour look on his face, "But **who **was the other voice? The squeaky one."

"One of his followers I suppose," The brown-haired one replied, almost calmly. She fixed her hair, though it looked messier than before.

Dani nodded, as though trying to take it in, "So, that cold voice was the B-Black Mage?"

The girl with the long curly hair shook her head, "Nope."

"Then who...?" Alala began.

"It was one of his most trusted and most powerful assistants," She continued, "Very powerful, sent to kill us, but you know..."

"K-kill you?" Violet gasped, "What did you do?"

The brown-haired one almost laughed, "Guess we have to tell you who we are now?"

Blue nodded, "I'd rather you did."

The brown-haired one extended her hand towards Blue, "My name's Carole," She smiled.

The girl with the longer, extravagantly curly hair smiled, "My name's Resi!" She grinned while pushing her purple hair out of her face.

Dani blinked, "It's nice to know your name's now I guess," She said.

"But what does that have to do with the Black Mage?" Blue asked.

"Why has he sent one of his most powerful assistants to kill you?" Violet continued.

Carole and Resi exchanged looks. Carole summoned a staff to her fingers, it was thin and silver with an odd looking skull on top. Resi followed suit, her staff red with a yellow orb, red wings wrapped around it.

Surprisingly leisured, Carole twirled her deathly looking staff, "You're looking at Carole and Tina, 2 of the 4 most wanted resistance members."

Blue's mouth formed an O, "Resistance members? And you're only two of them? Who are the other 2 that are most wanted?"

"That story is for another time," Carole said, suddenly sounding harsh.

"Yup," Resi agreed.

Dani's eyes were wide, "But you're part of the resistance?"

Carole nodded, "The resistance against the Black Wings Corporation, they're in alliance with the Black Mage."

Alala squeaked. "The Black Wings have been causing nothing but trouble in Edelstein," Resi said sadly, "They've taken some of the residents into captivity, it's absolutely horrible!"

Carole sighed, "We just happened to stumble into a resistance/Black Wings fight, and we found ourselves joining the resistance."

"Brighton taught us himself," Resi giggled, "Best battle mage I've ever met!"

"You're battle mages?" Blue exclaimed, "I thought that kind of magic was extinct years ago!"

"That's what Black Wings wanted everyone to think," Carole replied bitterly, "But, Resi and I learned it from one of the originals!"

"Right we did!" Resi nodded, almost sounding cheerful.

"Prove it," Blue said, his expression blank.

Carole blinked her amethyst eyes innocently, "Are you sure?"

Blue looked at her, annoyance showed in his eyes, "I'm sure, why else would I ask?"

Resi shrugged while Carole began climbing down the tree, "Just wanted to make sure..."

The six clambered down the tree and into the clearing, now deserted of any other people. "Now," Carole said, sounding like a school teacher, "Because you," She pointed to Blue, "Have asked to prove what has been said, I'll use you as my example, so you can experience it firsthand."

"I have a name," Blue said irritably, "It's Blue."

"Right," Resi nodded, "Colour here will demonstrate."

Blue shot an angry look that she dismissed, "So," Carole said, "Colour, please go 5 large steps back."

Blue scoffed and walked off, stretching his steps as far as possible. "How will you attack me?" Blue asked, "I know for a fact that battle mages are close range, not far."

"It is true," Carole said, nodding approvingly, "You know your stuff."

"Then how are you supposed to..." Blue started to say.

"Dark Chain!" Carole yelled. She extended her staff and a long, black chain stretched out and wrapped itself around Blue. He gave a small yelp and Carole dragged the end of the chain back to her. Blue's feet dragged on the ground until the dark chain around him disappeared and he fell on his knees, right at Carole's feet.

She smiled brightly, "This would be at the point in which I would use my attack, quintuple blow against you, but I have no means to hurt you." She looked at Resi, "Am I forgetting anything else?"

"We have dark shock," Resi murmured.

"Right," Carole nodded, "I'll show you dark shock, Resi will show you quintuple blow."

Resi smiled, "I was always better at quintuple than dark shock."

Carole laughed, "That's why I'm going to do dark shock," She wagged her finger at Resi, "Don't forget to use finisher at the end."

Resi nodded quite seriously, "Yeah."

Carole dug into her bag and pulled out a ratty old plushie that resembled the colour of a green slime. Clutching to it almost affectionately Carole said, "This is our little training dummy, Resi will demonstrate with it."

Blue mumbled something irritably. "What was that?"Carole asked him.

Blue frowned, "I was saying that, if you had a training dummy, why did you need to use me?"

"..." Carole began, "You were annoying me."

Opening his mouth to protest, Blue was interrupted. Resi had her fingers wrapped tightly against her staff and yelled, "Quintuple Blow!" She moved almost like a ninja, swinging five lashes of magic at the slime dummy, "finisher!" She said, and pushed her staff in front of her. A huge purple magic that looked almost like a clock cog blew directly on the dummy, slamming it multiple feet away.

Carole smiled, "Well, if that were a real monster, it would have either been fairly wounded or dead." She stepped forward to the dummy and extended her staff, swooping it down in a harsh stab, "DARK SHOCK!" A thick lightning bolt of dark energy shot out, blowing the dummy across the map, slamming it into a tree.

Violet and Alala's eyes widened, Dani blinked in surprise. "THAT'S AWESOME!" Alala squealed, "all those magic and... AWESOME!"

Blue rolled his eyes, "Not too bad."

Violet flicked the side of his forehead, "Come on Blue, can't you be nicer?"

He rubbed the side of his forehead, "Not while you flick me!"

Dani sighed, and opened her mouth to say something, but Alala hastily interrupted her, "Yeah Colour, be nice!"

Blue's eyebrows furrowed, "Don't call me that!" He wailed, running after her.

"Eeek!" Alala screamed, running.

Carole and Resi exchanged looks, "Just who are we starting to get involved with?"

Resi stared at Blue chasing Alala, laughing she shook her head, "I have no idea."

* * *

><p><strong>Alala: THANKS for reading!<strong>

**Violet: Chapter 8...**

**Dani: Will be posted soon.**

**Me: PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Finding Kuro

**Me: I am, SO SORRY. I've been gone for so long.**

**Blue: To be truthful...**

**Violet: *cough* blunt *cough***

**Blue: -_-, To be truthful, she's had THIS chapter around for a while, she's been too lazy to post.**

**Me: B-but I have chapter 9 and 10 ready too! And I shall post them soon.**

**Blue: Ha, sure.**

**Carole: OMG. Blue, just please, SHUT UP.**

**Blue: ...**

**Me: I don't own Maplestory!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 8: Finding Kuro

After watching Alala and Blue run around a bit, Resi called out to Blue, "Hey Colour!" She yelled.

Blue stopped abruptly at hearing the nickname he despised, "What?"

Resi laughed, "Bet you can't catch me in the mountains!"

He stared at her, "What are you talking about?"

"Resi is the best mountain climber I know," Carole said, "She's challenging you."

Blue raised his eyebrows, "Oh really? Challenging me to... Mountain climbing?"

Resi nodded, pushing back her silver headband. Blue smiled smugly, "You're on."

XxXxX

"To Perion we go," Alala sang, "To Perion we go..."

"Alala!" Dani scolded, "We're with wanted criminals, don't YELL OUT where we're going."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah... WHATEVER."

Dani sighed, "Just be more careful, I'm just saying that you're way too carefree, especially with the Black..."

"Would you both just be quiet?" Blue asked, frowning.

Resi and Carole turned back to look at the 3 falling behind, "Would you all stop talking and catch up?"

Violet laughed, while her three friends shot her disapproving looks, "What?" She murmured quietly.

"Well," Blue said, "They don't need to make fun of us like we're..."

Suddenly Resi made some sort of excited, horrified screech. The four turned to look ahead at where Carole and Resi were, Carole's eyes were wide and her hands were covering her mouth. Resi looked pale, "K-Kuro?"

XxXxX

The said boy was lying on the ground, he had smoky white hair, looking as though the wind was blowing towards the left, he seemed almost colourless, a thin cut on the corner of his mouth. "Oh my gosh..." Carole whispered, "W-what happened?"

Resi looked horrified, "Well, if Kuro's here, where's Helena?"

Violet, Alala, Dani and Blue rushed over, "What's going on?" Blue asked, he glanced at Kuro, "Who's that?"

"T-this is Kuro," Resi said quietly, "H-He's one of the 4 most wanted with us in the resistance."

Violet knelt down to inspect him, "Well he's not dead, he's unconscious."

Dani took out a guava and cracked it half, "I've heard guava stimulates senses." She waved the guava in Kuro's face, but he didn't stir.

Blue wordlessly took the guava from Dani, "Oi," He deadpanned, "wake up!" And he slammed the guava half into the poor boy. He didn't move surprisingly.

"BLUE!" Dani wailed, "Don't do that!" She grabbed the guava out of his hand.

"I was only trying to..."

"Try a swamp wrap, gather some debris and such and wrap it up." Violet suggested, "It has a stronger smell than guavas. The 6 gathered old twigs and leaves and Alala wrapped them in a large leaf. They waved it in front of Kuro, his eyes snapped open, "Geez what is that...? Resi? Carole?" He asked, his eyes widening.

"It's really you Kuro!" They squealed, tackling him into a hug.

"We missed you so MUCH!" Resi squeaked.

Carole squeezed him tight, "We had no idea where you were! We got worried and..."

"But I'm here now right?" He assured them, with a boyish grin.

"B-but..." Resi stammered.

Carole finished her thought, "Where's Helena?"

Kuro sighed, "We were separated..."

The 4 adventurers stared, "Why?" They asked.

Kuro looked down, "The Black Mage's death hunter."

Resi gasped, "W-what happened?"

XxXxX

Kuro pushed his hair out of his eyes, "I hate being on the run." He groaned to his partner.

Helena rolled her eyes, "That's what you get for being a resistance member I guess."

She whistled and her jaguar came to her, huge and purple. Helena stroked him and he purred happily. "Sometimes I wish we didn't join the resistance, just so we weren't in danger like this." Kuro said quietly.

Helena was quiet, "You'd rather just live without helping anybody at all?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Kuro replied slowly, "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Helena shook her head, "It's just the very idea is..."

"Forget it," Kuro snapped.

Helena sighed, "I think being on the run is getting to us, we're always so mad at each other..."

Kuro rubbed his forehead, feeling a head-ache coming on, "I know I know... I'm sorry."

There was a rustle in the trees, Helena twitched. "Kuro," She whispered, "I heard something behind us."

"What?" Kuro whispered back, "Impossible, no way they found us."

"B-but..." Helena's lip quivered, "I'm sure there's something..."

"Meteor Shower!" A cold voice hissed, meteors, hot and red began falling from the sky.

Kuro saw them first, and pushed Helena and him out of the way, "RUN!" He screamed, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her along. Someone was after them; a hooded figure with a mask was chasing them, waving his staff at them, planning to capture them, if not kill.

"Big bang!" He screamed, waving his weapon at them.

Kuro swerved to the right, dragging Helena with him, her black hair astray, "Kuro!" She screamed.

"Ifrit!" The masked death hunter yelled. Helena screamed so loud, it was ear-splitting.

Her clothes were on fire, she screeched loudly, "OW!"

She wretched her hand away from Kuro and dropped to the ground, rolling around insanely, extinguishing the flames that were trying to kill her. The death hunter was catching up to them, "HELENA!" Kuro screamed, turning around to get her.

"Big bang!" The death hunter screamed, hitting Kuro straight in the chest. He was flung into the trees, screaming in anguish. A hot, singeing feeling spread across him, almost as if he were burning. He slammed into a tree, his head spinning, unable to detect where he was, images were swimming, he was fighting to stay awake, and darkness began fizzing his vision, "H-Helena..." He murmured before falling into darkness.

XxXxX

"And then you woke me up," He finished.

Resi was hiccupping, "S-so you don't know where Helena is?"

His voice wavered, "No."

Violet spoke up, "But... K-Kuro? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He said, His eyes widened, "But... I'm missing something."

Alala took note of his worried face, "What are you missing?"

"A while ago, Helena and I were talking, we wanted to see Dancing With Balrogs, ask him a few questions, I had the ring with me, when we left and settled down for the night, I noticed, it wasn't on my finger anymore."

"What?" Resi's eyes widened, "You LOST the ring?"

Kuro cringed slightly. "What are you talking about?" Blue demanded to know.

Carole pretty much shoved her hand in his face. He took a step back, "What are you doing?"

"Showing you the ring on my finger smarty," She rolled her eyes. It was a silver ring band with a green emerald, a black 'R' carved into it. She took it off and showed Blue the inside, the name's Resi, Helena and Kuro were carved on the inside. "We made friendship rings."

"We carved an R on the emerald for 'resistance'" Resi continued, "And then on each ring, the three others carved their names on the inside." She removed her ring to show them the names Carole, Helena and Kuro.

"And I lost mine." Kuro frowned, "They're really important to us four, it's the only thing that keeps us linked to each other."

"We have to go back to Perion and find it," Carole said to Kuro, "maybe you dropped it while talking to Dancing With Balrogs."

"It's the best lead we've got," Kuro agreed, "and you guys were headed in that direction anyway, right?"

Dani laughed, "Yeah, but not for the same reasons, Resi and Blue were going to have a rock climbing contest."

Kuro smiled, "Still as competitive as always, huh Resi?"

She pouted, "Only a little."

XxXxX

The group of seven walked cautiously towards Perion. Alala with her bow ready, the mages with their collection of wands and staffs, and Kuro, seated up on his mech prototype.

When they finally arrived at the old city, with its rocky terrain, they seemed to relax a little. "So we go see Dancing With Balrogs, right?" Violet asked.

The 3 resistance members nodded. They climbed up the multiple stone steps towards the top of the city, up to where they knew Dancing With Balrogs would be. When they knocked, Kuro turned around, "I think just Carole and I should go in, just in case something happens."

"Why not me Kuro?" Resi demanded, her eyebrows furrowing.

"They'll need help," Kuro told her, "it's your job, and it's important."

Resi seemed pleased to be given such an important job, "Okay!"

Just as she did, the door opened.

XxXxX

They turned, but no one was at the door, but a clear voice that could only be Dancing With Balrog's spoke to them, "Come in."

Kuro looked at Resi, "Leave it to me Kuro!"

He nodded and gestured Carole to follow him. The two walked in, and the doors shut behind them. Dancing With Balrogs was sitting in his usual spot, "Ah, Kuro, welcome back."

"Hello Dancing With Balrogs," He replied, together, he sat with Carole at the foot of his chair, "We were wondering if you'd seen my ring, last time I came to visit you I had it on."

Carole held up her hand, "It looked like this."

Dancing With Balrogs nodded, "Yes, I saw it, you dropped it right at my door you did."

Kuro's face lit up, "Seriously?"

The warrior instructor nodded. "Can I have it back?" Kuro asked, when Dancing With Balrogs didn't make any movement to give it back to him.

"Ah, yes." He reached for the little sack he kept around his waist and took out a clear green emerald, followed by the silver ring, "It broke into two pieces I'm afraid Kuro."

Kuro's lit up expression flickered, he cleared his throat, "That's okay, I-I'm sure I can fix it." Dancing With Balrogs handed him what used to be his ring. Fingering with it, he glanced at Carole, "Does it look fixable?" He whispered.

He handed it to her and she looked it over, "Looks like it." She muttered.

"Well, thank you Dancing With Balrogs." Kuro said, getting up, "we'll be leaving now..."

"Wait," Dancing With Balrogs called to him, "Stay and talk with me for a bit."

"But..." Carole began, "We have people waiting outside for..."

"Just a few minutes," Dancing With Balrogs said, checking the watch around his wrist, "not much can happen to them from now and then."

Carole opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. Kuro nodded, "I guess a few minutes won't hurt anyone."

XxXxX

Resi casually threw a rock up in the air and caught it on its way down, "What do you think might be taking them so long?" Alala asked.

"Maybe Dancing With Balrogs got caught up in telling a story or something," Dani said, "I've heard he does that a lot."

"Maybe..." Violet wondered, staring up at the sky, pale blue and cloudless.

Blue was lying beside her, appearing to be thinking about something. Suddenly, he sat upright, looking around, "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Resi asked, tossing the rock up again. She was poised to catch it again, but someone else caught it. She looked back confused, until the horror in front of her registered on her face. The 4 adventurer's eyes widened, and Alala screamed.

A man in a black cloak was standing above Resi, an eerie smile on his face, when he spoke, it was clear to them who it was, "We meet again, resistance member." It was the death hunter sent to kill Kuro and Helena.

XxXxX

Kuro heard it, he looked towards the door. "So then," Dancing With Balrogs continued, "I was..."

"I'm sorry Dancing With Balrogs," Kuro said, cutting him off, and pulling Carole up by the wrist, "We have to go."

Carole protested, "Ow Kuro!" As he pulled her up, "What's up with you?"

"The one with the long pigtails," He hissed in her ear, "I heard her voice, she screamed."

Carole's eyes widened, "Alala? No way. I didn't hear..."

But there it was again, another scream, but it wasn't Alala this time. "RESI!" Carole screamed.

XxXxX

"Thought you could run away forever didn't you?" The death eater asked Resi. He gripped her collar, his other hand holding her staff.

Resi whimpered her silver headband out of place. "You're not getting away this time," He said, "Where are your little resistance friends?" He laughed, and saw Alala, Violet, Dani and Blue. Their faces contorted with fear. He aimed his staff at them, "Paralyze!" They tried to move, but it was too late, the attack hit its target, freezing all 4 of them, "Doesn't seem like these 4 will be much help."

Resi gasped, "No..." She murmured, trying to get her fingers around her own staff.

"Nuh uh," The death hunter shook his head, sweeping the staff away from her grasp.

Just then, Carole and Kuro burst through the door, Carole's eyes widened, "RESI!"

She saw her partner's staff in their enemy's hand, adrenaline coursed through her veins. Pushing aside her untidy brown hair, she charged straight for the death hunter and slammed him in the shoulder. "OW!" He said his reflexes caused him to let go of Resi and her staff. They both landed with a thud on the ground. Resi scrambled about and grabbed her staff. "Dark chain," She murmured. The long, black chain wrapped itself around the death hunter's ankle. She pulled and he was swept right off his feet, slamming onto the ground.

Kuro ran over to the 4 adventurer's, shaking them, "Come on guys," He whispered anxiously, "wake up!" Slowly, he got them all moving again.

Alala was reaching for an arrow from her quiver, "Oh no you don't!" The death hunter yelled, "Poison Breath!" An acidic green droplet sped its way towards Alala.

"NO!" Violet screamed, diving for her best friend. The droplet made contact with her skin and she dropped to the floor, screaming.

"Violet!" Dani wailed.

The death hunter laughed. Kuro looked around, there was no way they could win, not now, the adventurer's weren't strong enough, and Violet was starting to turn a sickly green. "Mech Prototype!" Kuro yelled, quickly mounting his prototype. "RUN!" He screamed. Alala, Dani, Blue, Carole and Resi looked up. The look of confusion on their faces, _aren't we supposed to fight? _They seemed to say. "We're not ready!" He yelled, answering the un-asked question.

He grabbed Violet, who by now had passed out on the floor, deadly pale and green tinged and placed her inside the mount, propped against his chair. The rest scrambled around, the death hunter looking this way and that, watching them flee like ants when it rains. "Hey!" He yelled.

"GO!" Kuro yelled, jumping down the stone steps. Blue grabbed Dani and Alala by the wrist, Resi and Carole used dark chain to wrap around the stone pillars and project themselves forward. They made a mad dash for the woods, the only place they knew they could hide.

The group finally reached a lake, hidden in a cluster of trees. Violet was moaning softly, she opened her eyes, the poison blurring her vision; she was sitting in some steel box of some sort. The ground felt cold and stiff. She stared at the white-haired blur in front of her, "K-Kuro?"

"Hey," He whispered, "I'm going to dismount, hold on to me okay?"

She was confused, "Dismount?"

He scooped her up, "Just hold on." He dismounted, and Violet almost screamed. He pressed his hand against her mouth. In a series of mechanic squeaks, Kuro's mount disappeared.

Violet murmured incoherently, "Kuro... I feel sick..."

Alala and the rest began to crowd around, "Will she be okay?" Dani asked.

Carole pressed a hand to Violet's forehead, "She's starting to run a fever."

"It's so hot..." Violet muttered, nodding off into hazy unconsciousness.

"We should set up camp, tend to Violet, and everything." Blue said slowly, trying to be sensible.

Kuro nodded, "Yeah."

XxXxX

After putting up a tent, Kuro laid Violet on the little sleeping bag, "She's sleeping," He said.

Dani placed a wet cloth on her forehead, "But she's burning."

Violet rolled over and screamed. Dani moved backward in surprise, "Violet?"

Kuro came closer, "Hey... Violet?" She tossed to the other side and screeched.

"What's wrong with her?" Dani asked.

"The poison's spreading, I know it."

"What can we do?" Alala asked, as she came into the tent, "She's screaming pretty loudly, the death hunters could find us easily."

Violet whimpered, "What kind of attack did he use on her Alala?" Blue asked, also coming in.

"Poison Breath," She whispered, tearing a little, "Violet took the attack for me."

Blue's expression didn't change, "Poison Breath, the most common cause, for spore fever."

"Spore fever?" Dani's eyes widened.

Blue nodded grimly, "Yes."

Chapter 8 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Violet: Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Alala: PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Dani: And as Mikashi was saying before, chapter 9 and 10 are all lined up and ready to go, if she gets 4 reviews for the chapter, she will post chapter 9.**

**Resi: And it's supposedly WAAAY exciting.**

**Me: So please review! *^-^***


	9. Helena's Solution

**Me: Hi.**

**Violet: Where have you been?**

**Me: Busy with other stories, but I've got 4 chapters lined up for publication! AND I'm doing them all tonight.**

**Blue: Oh wow. So exciting!**

**Me: Thanks! :D**

**Blue: I was sarcastic.**

**Me: Oh. -_-**

**Alala: MIKASHI DOESN'T OWN MAPLESTORY!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 9: Helena's Solution

"So what do we do?" Dani wailed, panic causing her voice to squeak.

"That's just it," Blue said, shaking his head, "I don't know, I never learned the cure."

Kuro pressed his lips together in a fine line, "Alala, Dani, you mind setting up a fire outside? It's starting to get cold. Ask Resi to help you, she's an expert fire starter."

"ROGER!" Alala exclaimed, bringing her hand up in a salute.

"Right," Dani said, grabbing Alala by the wrist.

"I'll go find some fire wood," Blue agreed, making his way to the tent's opening.

Kuro nodded, "I'll take care of Violet."

XxXxX

"Oi," Blue said, Carole and Resi were dragging logs towards a fire pit they made.

"What Colour?" Carole asked.

His eyes narrowed at his distasteful nickname. "I need to get some firewood, one of you come with me?"

Resi nodded, "I'll come..."

"We need you here!" Alala moaned, "I don't know how to start a fire..." She looked at Dani.

"Me neither, sorry." Dani said.

Carole rolled her eyes, "Fine. I'll go with what's his face; you guys do whatever you were going to." She began walking into the forest. She paused before turning around, she looked at Blue, whose face was showing utter dislike, "Are you coming or not?"

Muttering something under his breath, he trudged into the woods after Carole.

XxXxX

Violet turned around and Kuro covered her mouth. "ARGH!" She screamed.

He winced, every time she turned she'd scream, and her fever wouldn't break, she was burning up, with no signs of improvement.

Violet fussed around, looking like she was unable to get comfortable. She flipped onto her other side, Kuro went to cover her mouth. "ARGH!"

Dani looked inside the tent, "She getting any better?"

Kuro shook his head. Running his fingers through his ashy white hair, he sighed, "It's more like she's getting worst."

Violet turned again and Kuro sighed louder, he covered her mouth again until she stopped wailing. "Does she do that all the time?"

"Only when she moves," Kuro said flatly, "And she tends to move around a lot."

Dani sighed and extended her hands to Kuro, "I found these leaves growing at the edge of the forest, it you make tea with them they help lower fevers."

"They might help, but they won't cure her." He took her hand and closed his eyes, "It's like I can feel the poison running through her blood."

Dani chewed on her lip, "Will she...?"

Kuro shook his head, "I don't know."

XxXxX

Blue crashed through the forest, grumbling about being hit by a branch for the tenth time. "Could you be any louder?" Carole asked, Blue could tell by her tone she was rolling her eyes.

"Do you HAVE to let every branch slam in my face?"

"Do you HAVE to fail at dodging the branches?" She retorted.

Blue scowled, "WHATEVER. What are we looking for anyway?"

"What do you think?" Carole asked, sounding non-sarcastic for once.

"I don't..." Blue trailed off, not wanting to admit defeat.

"You are such a beginner," Carole laughed, Blue didn't really know what to say, she was either pitying his limited knowledge or mocking him, most likely the latter.

"Well sorry, a level 32 is SUCH a beginner."

Carole sighed, "We're looking for stumps genius."

"Are you being sincere or are you messing with my head?" Blue asked.

"I'm pretty sure you're already messed up in the head." Carole said flatly.

XxXxX

"How far are we?" Blue asked later, "I haven't seen a single stump at all..."

"Shut up," Carole snapped, "you're so loud, you're probably scaring them all away."

"So now it's my fault?"

"It's always been your fault; if you say 'now' you mean to say it was my fault before."

Blue took a second to register what she said, "No one is at fault, and maybe there just aren't stumps anywhere," He looked around, "Why can't we just take tree branches?"

Carole was quiet, she snapped a tree branch off the tree and pointed it at Blue, "Here, you can go take this back to camp and do it the easy way. I'll keep looking for stumps."

She tossed it at him, "See you 'round."

He let it fall to the ground, "No way, if you keep going, so do I."

XxXxX

Finally, Carole and Blue stumbled into a clearing, "Are we here...?" Blue asked, yawning.

Carole raised her staff and closed her eyes. She extended her staff forward, "DARK SHOCK!" about 5 stumps squealed, disappearing into nothingness, leaving tree branches on the ground. She continued walking; she glanced over her shoulder and smirked at Blue, still staring at the branches on the ground, "Pick those up, will you?"

Carole continued on forward while Blue grumbled, picking up the tree branches. The leaves behind him rustled, he turned, "Who's there?"

He thought he heard a click noise, as if a weapon was being readied. "Hello?" He asked, staring at the bushes.

"Ricochet," Someone whispered.

Blue barely had time to duck, 5 arrows whizzed by him making contact with a stump a few feet in front of him, making the stump explode into non-existence.

"What the...?" Blue muttered. A crossbow poked its way out of the bushes and fired an arrow straight at his arm. "OW!" He cried, sputtering utter nonsense he pulled the arrow and threw it at the bushes. A girl's big brown eyes stared at him while her arm reached up and grabbed the arrow in mid-air. She stepped out, she had long black hair clipped up with a black clip, her eyes were chocolate brown and her skin was light, as if she didn't hang around in the sunlight. She was wearing a long sleeved gray shirt that looked burned at the edge of the sleeves, "Who are you?" Blue yelled, "And why the heck did you shoot me?"

The girl paused, adjusting her crossbow and putting the arrow back in her quiver, "I'm sorry, I thought you might try and attack me, I just stole your kill after all."

Blue felt like throwing another arrow, "I wasn't going to kill it! I was picking up TREE BRANCHES!"

"I'm sorry," She said again, though more quietly.

"Who are you anyway?" Blue asked.

"My name is Helena," She whispered.

"I can't hear you," Blue replied flatly.

"H-Helena," Helena said louder.

Carole came running back, her expression angry "I heard yelling! Blue what are you...?" Her eyes widened. She stopped and stared, her expression changing, "Helena!" She screeched, Carole ran and literally jumped on the other girl.

"H-hi Carole," Helena said softly.

"I missed you I missed you!" Carole exclaimed without stopping.

Blue watched, astounded by Carole's sudden change in attitude.

"I MISSED YOU!" Carole squealed.

Helena laughed, facing Blue, "Carole and I go way back; I met her when she was 3 years-old. I was 7 and she instantly loved me when I offered to play with her when the others wouldn't." She leaned in closer to Blue and whispered, "See, people used to tease Carole about her messy hair, she's never been the same really."

Carole cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure, "Helena, are you okay? I mean, Kuro told us how you were separated."

Helena nodded, "I managed to get away, but I got burned, I couldn't catch up to where Kuro had got blown away to." She rolled up her sleeve, showing off a long, shiny burn on the back of her lower arm, "This is one of the better ones."

"Oh..." Carole took her arm and looked at it, "This is really bad." She opened the little pouch hanging on her belt, "Luckily, I got a few of these near Elinia." Carole took out what looked like mint leaves and put them in her mouth to chew, "You're supposed to put them in water and mash it up, but saliva works just as well."

"That's alright Carole..." Helena said.

"No, if you leave it unattended it'll get worst," Carole took the leaves out of her mouth and pressed them against Helena's skin.

Her face relaxed, "Ooh! It feels cool against my skin, its felt burning for days." She closed her eyes.

Blue stared at both of them, "Carole, can I say something?"

"What?" She asked, narrowing her eyes, as if he were about to say something awful.

"I don't think your hair looks THAT bad." He said, his mouth forming an evil grin.

"You don't mean that!" Carole pouted, "You're trying to make fun of me again!" She chased him around while Helena held the leaves to her skin.

"So what if I am?" Blue asked, mocking her.

"SHUT UP!" Carole screamed.

"Well," Helena said, "You two seem to get along."

XxXxX

Kuro dipped the towel in more cold water and placed it on Violet's forehead, her fever was going nowhere but up. She groaned and her eyelids slid open, so slowly it was like they were made of iron.

"K-Kuro?"

"You're awake?" He asked.

"Yeah, I feel really sick, what's going on?"

"You took the poison for Alala, it caused spore fever."

"Spore fever..." Violet muttered, "I feel like I can't breathe."

"Hang on a bit, okay? We're waiting for the fever to break, it'll get better after that..."

"No," Violet moaned, she tried to sit up, but Kuro made her lay down, "I can feel the poison, it's messing with my brain, the fever is the least of my worries."

Kuro pressed his lips together, "I don't know the cure for spore fever."

Violet went cross eyed, "AHHHH!" She screamed. She slammed her arms on the ground. "Ow, Ow, Ow!" She moaned.

"Hold on, just a bit longer." Kuro whispered gently.

"NO!" Violet screamed, "NO!"

Kuro closed his eyes, "It'll be better soon."

"HOW? You don't even know the cure!" Violet groaned, a single tear running down her face.

Dani came in, "Kuro, I think you need a break, I'll take care of her now."

"Okay, I just refreshed the towel," Kuro said, "And I got some of that fever reducing tea in her a while ago..."

"Kuro," Dani said, a small smile on her face, "I've got it."

XxXxX

Kuro, Resi and Alala waited outside, watching the sun sink lower into the horizon, "IT'S GETTING COLD!" Alala moaned.

"Shh," Kuro said, "You'll get attention to us."

The 3 winced as Violet screamed from inside the tent, "NO NO!"

There was a rustle in the bushes. Kuro whipped around, preparing to mount his mech prototype. Resi reached for her staff.

"Kuuuurrrrroooo!" An eerie voice wailed, "Welcome me to your camp! OOOOOHHH!"

Kuro's eyes widened, "No way... Could that be...?" He took a step closer, "Helena? Is that you?"

There was a laugh, Helena emerged from the bushes, followed by Carole, then Blue, who's arms were loaded with tree branches. "How did you know it was me?"

"That's what you did during resistance training!" Kuro said, running over. He hugged her and she winced slightly, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah fine," She said nodding, "Just a few burns here and there."

"Okay," Kuro said, though he didn't look too convinced.

Violet screamed from the tent, "YOU CAN'T... DON'T!"

Kuro laughed nervously, "Don't mind Violet, see, she caught spore fever, because she took a poison attack..."

"Spore fever?" Helena asked, "Can I see her?"

Kuro's eyebrows furrowed, "Okay?"

XxXxX

Helena stepped into the tent and Dani screamed. "WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT? DON'T KILL ME!"

Kuro came in after her, "Calm down Dani," He said, "this is Helena, my partner and the last most wanted 4 resistance."

"Oh," Dani replied, blinking as she registered the information into her head, "Geez Kuro, you could have at least warned me, I almost had a heart attack!"

Helena looked down, "Sorry about that, I just wanted to see Violet... Please."

"She's right over there," Dani said, "Careful she might..."

"Scream," Helena finished, "I know."

She walked over and kneeled beside Violet. "Hello, Vie-oh-let," Helena whispered, clearly enunciating her name, "My name is H-eh-l-eh-nah."

Violet looked at her in comprehension, "H-Helena?" Violet asked, repeating her name.

"Yes," She put her hand on Violet's forehead as she clearly tried to struggle against her, but she was too weak. "You feel pretty awful right?"

"Why is she talking to Violet like she's a five year old?" Dani whispered to Kuro.

"I don't know," Kuro whispered back.

"Y-yeah," Violet said, she sounded like her head was spinning, "I feel like I'm dying or something."

"What if I told you that I could make you better?" Helena asked.

"You can?" Violet asked her tone hazy.

"Yes." She turned to Kuro, Dani and Resi who was coming inside.

"The fire's lit." Resi said, pointing her thumb towards the exit, "Carole's watching it."

"You see," Helena told them, "I know the cure for spore fever, I need sap of ancient tree and herb leaves."

Dani looked in her bag, "I found herb leaves by the edge of the forest," She pulled out a fistful, "Is this enough?"

"Plenty," Helena smiled, "All we need is sap of ancient tree."

"I know where to find it," Said Blue, "Stumpy drops it all the time when he's taken down."

"Don't the different kinds of stumps drop it too?" Resi asked.

"Yeah, but Stumpy always drops it."

Kuro smiled, "Then we'd better go find it."

XxXxX

He snickered, trying to back away sneakily like a true villain. Unfortunately, the poor guy tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. "Ow!" He muttered, cursing under his breath.

He groaned and got up, dusting the dirt of his old, faded jeans. He ran out of the woods and closer towards Perion and into a cave, he could hear the dripping of water echoing. "Mr. L-Lirex sir," He said quietly, mumbling.

The same icy voice from before spoke, "Don't call me Mr. Lirex Klaus, that makes me sound old."

Klaus felt his fingers stiffen, "S-sorry L-Lirex sir, I j-just thought you might like to know some information about the two resistances you were looking for near Elinia."

"This is accurate information this time?" He asked.

"Y-yes," Klaus murmured, "They're camping out in the woods on the outer most part of Perion, one of them, the little black haired magician has spore fever sir, and they're planning to set out for sap of ancient tree."

"I see," Lirex whispered.

Klause turned to Lirex's unknown partner who was hidden in the shadows, "The other two you are looking for are there too, the white haired one and the one that caught on fire."

He laughed, it echoing around the cave like a multitude of evil voices, "Are they now?"

"Y-yes," Klaus whispered.

"We will spare you today Klaus," Lirex hissed. He picked up his staff and cackled, "Come," he beckoned his partner, "Let's go."

He slipped into the dim light; Klaus saw a flash of blue eyes before he slid his mask on, "Let's get a move on."

XxXxX

Resi, Helena, Blue and Kuro trudged through the woods, "This is the second time today," Blue muttered, "I hate the forest."

"Shh," Kuro said, "we need you to come, you know where Stumpy is."

"Yeah, but I bet Dani knew too..."

"But she knew how to care for Violet," Helena whispered, "You don't."

Blue pouted, while they heard large crashing footsteps ahead of them, "Is that...?" Resi asked.

"I'm sure of it," Blue nodded. He waved his hand and took the lead, "Follow me."

XxXxX

Stumpy was at least 9 feet tall, possibly even taller. "ARGH!" He bellowed.

Resi looked at the others, "So, what's the plan?"

Blue and Helena spoke at the same time, "Well, plans **are**my specialty."

Kuro laughed, "Well then, what's the plan?"

Helena whispered something into Blue's ear, "That may not work..." Blue murmured.

She paused then whispered again, Blue smiled, "Now that, might work."

XxXxX

"Everyone gets the plan?" Helena asked.

"Yup!" Resi cheered, while Kuro and Blue nodded. First, Resi made herself clear to Stumpy, "YOU WHO! MR. STUMPY!" She waved her arms around.

Stumpy stared at her. "Dark chain," She whispered. The thick chain wrapped around Stumpy's roots, "Wanna play a game?" Resi asked innocently.

Stumpy looked confused, whether he should try and break free or play the game. Resi figured it was the latter. "See, this is how you play, my friends are going to show you their different attacks, you tell me which one hurts the most, okay?"

The monster seemed to be rethinking his choice, he began trying to move, but Resi held the chain tightly around his roots. Blue came out first, "So," Resi said to Stumpy, "This is Blue, he's an ice/lightning mage." Blue nodded and extended his staff. He closed his eyes and slammed it into the ground. A volt of lightning struck Stumpy in the head. Stumpy wailed, and Resi had to dig her feet into the ground.

"N-next is my friend Helena," Helena walked up to Stumpy and held a small mechanical device in her left hand. She smiled at Stumpy and placed it at his roots. She nodded to Resi who pulled on her chain to make it longer, she stepped back as far as possible and Helena ran back to where Blue and Kuro were.

She then clicked on a little button and the mechanical device started beeping. "It's raining mines," Helena whispered, and the mine exploded.

Stumpy screeched, and Resi winced as Stumpy pulled on the chain. She gripped her staff tighter so that her hands turned white, "It's okay! Next is my friend Kuro."

Kuro stepped out and mounted his mech prototype, "Gatling Gun." He said, shooting at Stumpy.

"ARGH!" Stumpy exclaimed.

Resi let go and thrust her staff in a stabbing motion, "DARK SHOCK!" Stumpy groaned and fell to the ground, he sparked and then disappeared.

Blue picked up the sap of ancient tree left on the ground, "That was boring," He said flatly.

"But we needed to be quick" Helena replied.

"Right, well," Kuro continued, "We better go back."

"Yeah," Blue said, "Let's go back to the..." He was cut short, by an ear-splitting scream.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Hope<strong> **you liked it!**

**Dani: Thanks for reading!**

**Kuro: Keep going for the next chapters. **

**Me: PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER! :D**


	10. Breathless

**Me: Okay, here's the next one!**

**Helena: MIKASHI DOESN'T OWN MAPLESTORY.**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 10: Breathless

"The girls!" Kuro exclaimed.

"We have to hurry!" Helena screamed.

"Only Carole, Violet, Dani and Alala are there, and Violet's down," Resi pondered, "they could be in serious trouble!"

Blue tossed the sap of ancient tree to Helena, "You know how to make the cure, right?"

"Yeah," She replied, almost breathlessly.

"Then you hold on to it," He nodded, "Come on, we have to go save the girls!"

XxXxX

Violet felt like her lungs were on fire, "Let me..."

"No," Lirex said harshly, "You're what I need to bring out the others."

"P-please..." Violet murmured, her vision blurring in and out of focus.

The masked person gripped Carole by the collar, "Where is your little resistance friends?"

"I d-don't know," Carole whispered, "They left a while ago to..."

The mysterious person threw her to the ground, "Useless you are."

Dani came to Carole and helped her up, "Just who are you?" She asked.

Lirex laughed, "You're joking right? You run and hide, but you don't really know who we are?"

Alala gulped, "S-so what if we don't?"

"I am Lirex, the most favoured of the Black Mage, and this is my partner."

"What's your name?" Dani asked the masked person.

"Is it any of your business?"

"I was just..."

"SHUT UP!" Lirex snapped.

Alala grabbed an arrow from her quiver and aimed at Lirex, "Let go of my friend!"

She shot the arrow, but Lirex caught it, "Foolish little girl, you really think you can beat me with your arrow?" He tossed it to his partner who snapped it with his bare hands.

"You really are stupid," His partner hissed.

Carole held up her staff, "Now wait a minute..."

"Got something to say puffy-head?" Lirex asked.

"P-puffy-head?" Carole whispered, her eyes widening.

"_See, people used to tease Carole about her messy hair, she's never been the same really."_

Lirex smiled, "Nothing?" He squeezed Violet's neck, "I guess I'll just finish her off now."

"Violet!" Alala screamed.

Dani grabbed Carole's wrist, shaking her arm, "Carole, come on!"

She opened her mouth as if to say something, "I... Yeah, right, sorry." She and Dani grabbed Alala.

"On the count of 3," Dani whispered, hoping Lirex and his partner couldn't hear, "1,"

"2," Carole continued.

"3," Alala finished.

The three raised up their weapons, "Go!"

Lirex spun on his heel, "Cold Beam!"

XxXxX

Blue, Kuro, Resi and Helena ran faster and faster, "Come on!" Kuro yelled, running ahead.

"R-right!" Resi replied, breathing heavily.

"Where are we anyway?" Helena asked.

"Well..." Blue began, not stopping, "We're..."

"OH. MY. GOSH!" Resi screamed, "Helena look out..."

"What?" Helena turned around. She was face to face with, literally a thing. It had really thick elephant like legs; its eyes were huge and white, with a tiny little black pupil in the middle. The rest of its face was covered by a huge wooden mask it held in its hands, "ARGH!" Helena screamed.

The wooden mask made a raspy noise that was its laughter, it reached forward with one hand and grabbed the sap of ancient tree right out of her hands. Helena's eyes were wide, "I..." The wooden mask laughed again and tossed it into the bushes, where it was met by another wooden mask. Helena remained frozen on the spot a look of terror on her face.

Kuro shook her, "Helena! The sap!"

She shook her head clear and stared at her empty hands, "Oh my gosh!"

Blue closed his eyes, trying to prevent himself from yelling. "We have to get it back!" Resi wailed, "the girls at camp need us!"

Kuro and Helena nodded, Blue still trying to stay calm, "Right," Kuro said, "Run!" They took off for the woods where the wooden masks were giggling and crashing away.

"Get it!" Resi screamed, seeing the bottle catch the rays of sunlight seeping through the foliage.

"Lightning bolt!" Blue yelled, knocking out 5 wooden masks. The three other raced ahead, Blue bent down to pick up one of the masks, "Is it like they get smaller when you kill the actual..." He held it up over his face, "It actually fits..."

The wooden mask holding the sap of ancient tree turned around, back towards the clearing they started at, it rushed past Blue and he turned to look. "Oh my gosh!" Resi screamed, "There's another one?"

She held up her staff, "Wait Resi..." Blue began.

"Dark chain!" Her long dark chain reached forward and grabbed him by the ankles, dragging him across the rough, uneven ground.

Blue landed at her feet, dropping the mask, "IT'S ME RESI!" He yelled heatedly, "YOU IDIOT!"

She blinked, "Oops," She scratched the back of her neck, "Sorry."

"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT!" He yelled.

Resi hastily pointed in front of them, "Look! We're losing Kuro and Helena!"

"You little..." Blue began.

"RUN!" She screamed, running away from him.

"RESI!" He yelled after her.

XxXxX

Kuro and Helena chased after the wooden mask, "Come back!" Helena wailed.

"We need that!" Kuro yelled.

Helena opened her bag and hurled a little mechanical device at the wooden mask, at the moment when it was about to make literal contact, she clicked the little button on her universal remote, "It's Raining Mines!" She screamed.

The little device exploded, blasting the wooden mask into non-existence and the bottle of sap of ancient tree went flying towards them. Kuro jumped up and caught it, dropping to the ground and tumbling in a dive roll, he sat up and held his arm above his head, "Got it!"

Resi came crashing though a set of trees, screaming her head off, running from Blue, who looked like he could bite her. "What happened?" Helena asked.

Resi hid behind her, "Nothing."

"IT WAS NOT NOTHING!" Blue yelled, charging for her.

Kuro grabbed his hands and held them behind his back, "Hey, hey, EASY."

"SHE DARK CHAINED ME!" Blue struggled against Kuro but he held him in place.

"I thought you were a wooden mask!" She wailed, peeking out from behind Helena's neck.

"Calm down guys!" Kuro yelled, "I have the sap of ancient tree in my bag, we have to get to the girls!"

Blue shook his head to clear it, "Right, come on!"

XxXxX

The four smashed through the forest and out into the clearing, almost so fast they almost lost their balance, the scene in front of them, was devastating. Their camp site was in ruins, literally everything looked like it had been in a snow globe, shaken up and thrown out again. Lirex had Violet in a choke hold and Dani, Carole and Alala, were all in battle position, staffs poised bow at the ready, but they were frozen, solid. The ice sculpture reached out, with one of Alala's arrows stretching out in the direction of the evil duo. "Carole!" Resi screamed.

Lirex turned around, "Ah, it looks, like we have company," He said to his partner.

He snickered, "It seems we do."

Lirex looked Blue in the eye, "Hello little ice/lightning magician."

Blue stared at him, "Let. Her. Go. NOW."

Violet whimpered, "B-Blue... Don't..."

"Listen to the girl, she's right," Lirex laughed, "You don't want to mess with me."

"Let her go!" Blue yelled, "You have no right to attack her!"

"Or do I?" Lirex questioned him.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked, taking a step forward. Helena reached out to pull him back, but he slapped her hand away.

"She's travelling with wanted criminals, keeping them safe from the... 'Police'," Lirex hissed, he took his other hand and grabbed Violet by the roots of her hair, and forced her to look at him, "Haven't you, little girl?"

Violet looked like she was going to suffocate, "I... H-have nothing to s-say..."

Lirex scowled at her and turned back to Blue, "Whatever she says, I have the right to attack any one of you, associating yourselves with these people, it was your choice."

Blue looked down, "I don't care, let her go now, before I force you to."

"Oh, is the little boy threatening me? What are you going to do, magic claw me?"

Blue felt his cheeks burn, "Let he go," He said quietly again.

"No."

Kuro stepped up to be beside Blue, "Let her go."

The masked partner sneered, "Ah, Kuro, long time no see, are you fairing well? I believe last time we met, you were blown away and knocked into a tree."

"Shut up," Kuro hissed, gritting his teeth.

Lirex rolled his eyes, "Never mind," He threw Violet on the ground.

She screamed, "OW, OW, OW!" She put her hands to her head, "Ow, Ow, Ow!"

Resi tried to make a move for her, but Helena stopped her, "It's no use, without the medicine, it won't help. The poison is making its way up to her head," Helena spoke calmly, but her voice was beginning to quake, "She might..."

"So what are you waiting for young adventurer?" Lirex asked Blue, "Are you ready to give up?"

Kuro gripped Blue by the shoulder; he stared at him, "Just..." Kuro began, "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"I'm not giving up," Blue whispered, taking another step forward, "I haven't come this far for nothing, I haven't worked hard, I haven't fought you before, to lose."

He kept walking, and Lirex kept a careful eye on him, Violet screamed again. "And what I realize is, whenever you have one of us in captivity, why don't you just kill them?" Blue continued, "You don't, because, you're a coward, you're too afraid to actually kill someone, I bet... You can't even really use lightning magic."

Lirex's eyes burned red, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Blue rolled his eyes and smiled, "It's not like you're actually going to kill me, so what's the point in stopping?" He extended his staff, "Lightning Bolt." The bright yellow lightning crashed into a tree behind him, "See, that's how it's done, can you really do something like that?"

Lirex hissed, "Now you're going to get it boy, and you'd better hope, that you are killed quickly."

"CHAIN LIGHTING!" Crackling electricity shot towards Blue, but he ducked and rolled to his left.

"Too slow, I should have known," Blue continued, sticking his tongue out at him.

"CHAIN LIGHTNING!" Lirex struck again, this time, the lightning barely missed Blue's hair.

Resi and Helena screamed from the forest entrance, "Blue! BE CAREFUL!"

Blue smiled, turning a sharp turn right, _Just one more, I need one more._

"CHAIN LIGHTNING!" Lirex aimed straight for Blue's heart, he made a mad swerve to the left, and just as he had hoped, he dived behind the ice trapping the three girls, and the lightning made direct contact.

"NO!" Lirex screamed.

The ice cracked and creaked before shattering like glass, Alala, Dani and Carole tumbling out, falling to the ground, Blue managed to grab Carole by the wrist. Dani steadied herself with her staff and Alala made a tumble roll, "W-what...?" Carole began.

Blue shook his head, "Aim for kill."

She smirked, "You?"

He narrowed his eyes and let her go, "Of course not!"

Carole smiled, "Just checking."

XxXxX

Helena, Resi and Kuro raced over to where the others were, "Ready?"

They all nodded, "Right."

Carole raised her staff and stared at Lirex, "No one, absolutely NO ONE, is allowed, to MAKE FUN OF MY HAIR! DARK SHOCK!"

Lirex swerved, "FIEND!"

Blue looked at Helena, "You got a plan?"

She closed her eyes to think, "Yes, I'm going to make the potion behind in the trees, I want Resi and Alala to bring Violet to me," She paused, "You, Kuro, Dani and Carole, fight them off."

"That's really risky," Blue told her.

"But really, isn't life all about risks?"

He smiled, "Fine." He beckoned over Kuro, Dani and Carole.

XxXxX

"We did not come this far to be defeated," Blue told his group.

Kuro, Dani and Carole nodded, "So we are going to fight until it's no longer possible, understand?" Kuro continued.

Dani nodded, "No matter what."

Kuro mounted his prototype, "Atomic Hammer!"

"Magic Claw!"

"Quintuple Blow!"

"Lightning Bolt!"

A full out battle broke out, "METEOR SHOWER!" Lirex's partner yelled.

"CHAIN LIGHTNING!" Lirex bellowed. Resi and Alala made a mad dash for Violet and dragged her into the forest where Helena was.

Carole continued slashing at Lirex, so fast she was a blur, "FINISHER!" Her huge clock cog slammed Lirex back with such a force; he was flung into the tree branches.

Kuro faced off with his partner, "Atomic Hammer!" He was smacked down to the ground, and Kuro dismounted, "I will never forgive you, for hurting my friends!" He pulled back and punched the mysterious death hunter square in the jaw, sharp pain coursed through his fist, but the mask that had so carefully concealed the villain shattered, falling in sharp shards on the floor.

He yelled and kicked Kuro, smashing him into the ground. The now unmasked death hunter stood up, readying his weapon, ready to kill. But Dani screamed, so loudly and so terrified, everyone stopped. She was pale and staring at the death hunter, "N-no way! I never..." She stared straight into the blue eyes of the person trying to kill her and all of her friends, "I NEVER THOUGHT... HOW COULD YOU?"

The death hunter kicked Kuro and walked up to Dani, he looked like he was actually as old as she was, even a few years older, "Naive little girl," He reached forward and touched her ruby red bangs, "What happened to keeping your bangs out of your face?"

Dani smacked him, "DON'T TOUCH ME! HOW COULD YOU? YOU KNEW IT WAS ME AND YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING?"

His blue eyes sparkled, making her feel cold and utterly betrayed, "I can't believe it, after all this, you would have killed me, I never would have dreamed."

"Dani, sweet, loving Dani, why are you say angry?"

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Dani yelled, so angry.

Blue cleared his throat, "Dani, you know him?"

"KNOW HIM?" She hissed, "I trusted him, he was my best friend, told me he was going up to El Nath to study, but, you've been here, the whole time, haven't you?" She spat, "Hunting down resistance and eventually me."

"Who is he?" Carole asked.

Dani shook her head, "This used to be my best friend, Demaro."

Blue stared at her, "Demaro? The one from all the stories of...?"

"SHUT UP BLUE!" She screamed, tears in her eyes, she grabbed Demaro by the collar, "You knew it was me but you kept going! Why?"

He smiled, evil and hateful, "Why I didn't stop? I want you at the mercy of my hand, I want you, and all your petty little friends, dead."

Chapter 10 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Thanks for reading! Keep going for the next one!<strong>

**Resi: PLEASE REVIEW!**


	11. Memories

**Me: K, here's chapter 11!**

**Carole: Mikashi doesn't own Maplestory.**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 11: Memories

Dani stared in shock at her former best friend, "D-dead..." She mumbled, "Demaro, what's happened to you? Why are you like this?"

He smiled a sick smile at her, "Whatever do you mean, Dani?"

"What happened to you? Where is the real you?"

"Dani," Demaro whispered, "this IS the real me."

"The real you? The real you was never like this..."

XxXxX

Dani giggled again, "I told you to do it like THIS!" She cupped her hands and scooped at the pond water, "See?" She said, extending her hands towards her friend, "the tadpoles!"

Demaro looked down in her hands, "And what am I supposed to be looking at Dani?" He asked curiously.

The little red-headed girl furrowed her eyes brows, "What?" She looked down at her hands, "Ah! They're gone!"

Demaro laughed while Dani freaked, "Calm down Dani, we'll catch more."

She nodded and began wading in the little pond again for a new group of tadpoles. Demaro watched her, her fiery long hair tied back in a ponytail that bobbed about as she moved and her long bangs that tended to cover her eyes. He smiled as he watched her giggle, trying to catch her beloved tadpoles.

Demaro sloshed through the water to catch up with her, "Hey Dani, look!" He scooped his hands and caught a few squirming tadpoles, "Look! I caught some!"

She splashed around and went to his side, "Aw, they're so cute Demaro!" She bent down to look, and her red hair fell over her face.

Letting the tadpoles back into the pond, Demaro looked up and smiled at Dani, his blue eyes sparkling innocently, his messy blond antagonist hair making him look much younger than he really was, "Hey Dani, keep your hair out of your face," He reached forward and brushed the hair out of her face, grinning he told her, "You look prettier that way."

Her cheeks coloured a bit, "Aw, your just saying that 'cause you're my best friend."

He shook his head and smiled, "Nuh uh, you look really pretty Dani, I like to see your eyes you know."

Dani grinned, "Well you're pretty too!"

Demaro laughed and ruffled her hair, "Sure."

XxXxX

Older now, Dani was still best friends with Demaro; the two were almost inseparable, always together. Dani kept her hair back in two curly pigtails, tied with red ribbon; she tried her best to keep her bangs to the side, because she knew how much Demaro liked it when she did.

Walking across town to her best friend's house, she finally arrived and knocked on the door, "You who! Hello!" Demaro's mother opened the door a crack and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw Dani.

"Hello Dani," She noticed Dani stared at her with confusion, "Never mind child, come in, I was expecting someone else."

"Ah, I see," Dani said, smiling a little, "I'm here to see Demaro, he's here right?"

"Yes, in his room I believe, just knock and ask if you can come in."

"Okay," She saw that Demaro's mom was going out the door, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Oh, no, I'm going into the garden to pick some vegetables, I've started to grow some myself."

Dani bit her lip, "You can always take some of our vegetables if you need some, my parents told me that you guys are in some financial..."

"Don't worry about us Dani," Demaro's mom assured her, "Farmers just ask ridiculous prices, I would much rather grow my own."

"But if you ever need anything..." Dani started to say, but Demaro's mom had walked out the door with her wicker basket, the screen door shutting closed behind her.

Travelling up the stairs, Dani wondered why they were so creaky. In fact, she'd never thought about it before, but the wall on the side of the stairs paint was chipping. Reaching Demaro's door she knocked, thinking it was his mother he muttered, "Come in."

Dani walked in, Demaro's room was like it always was. The bed was pushed against the left corner, an old dresser against the right wall. Demaro was bent over his desk at the foot of his bed. "What're you doing?" Dani asked, looking over his shoulder.

Realizing who was in his room, Demaro lurched forward to cover what he was doing, "N-no Dani! Don't look..." But one of his creations fell on the floor and Dani bent down to pick it up.

She held it up in the light, "A bracelet?"

He blushed a little but cleared his throat, "Yeah, I was GOING to make you a bracelet for your birthday, but you already saw it, I guess it isn't much of a surprise anymore."

Dani shook her head and smiled, "No, it's okay," She fingered the bracelet between her thumb and index finger, "It's very pretty Demaro."

"Thanks," He said proudly, he took it out of her hand, "But this one's mine."

"What?" Dani asked, scrunching up her eyebrows, "I thought you made it for me?"

"Oh no, these are friendship bracelets, this one is mine," He held up the blue bracelet, rummaging through the clutter of string and beads on his desk he picked up the pair, "This one's yours."

It was a red thread bracelet with plastic orange beads, Dani recognized the string from his mother's sewing kit, "Demaro, you did ask your mom if you could borrow this stuff, right?"

"What? Oh yeah, of course I did." He slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, "Perfect, it fits!" He said excitedly, putting on the blue bracelet he touched his wrist with hers, "For as long as we wear these bracelets, we'll always be friends, right?"

Dani smiled, "Yeah! Best friends forever!"

Demaro held up his pinkie finger, "Promise?"

She linked her finger in his, "Promise."

Later, Dani left and Demaro was sitting on his bed. He lay down, closing his eyes, concentrating hard on something, _please don't let it happen today, I don't want to ruin today._

But it did, in fact, happen again. The door opened and Demaro knew it was his mother, back from gathering vegetables. He heard her humming in the kitchen and the tap running while she washed the dishes.

Soon his father came home, "I'm telling you, you should let me go." He muttered to his wife, and Demaro heard a chair scrape against the floor, meaning his father had sat down at the table.

"No, I refuse, you can't do that to your family, it might seem great now, but not in the near future."

"We're barely passing by! How long do you actually think we'll be able to last like this?" He asked.

"Quiet, you know sound travels easily in our house, Demaro can probably hear you."

"Let him here me then!" His father hissed, "He would agree with me! Let me join them, and I can support our family, he can afford anything he wants!"

"We have everything we need!" His mother cried, "I don't need you to be sold away!"

"I'm not being sold away!"

"But you would be bonding the family to them forever! Do you really want to do that to your son?"

"Listen to me! If we go on like this, we'll eventually die of starvation!"

"LISTEN TO ME! We have vegetables and other families helping us, we have no need for such foolishness!"

Demaro turned onto his side and used his pillow to cover his ears, they could yell into the night, arguing forever. He hated when his mom and dad fought, they mostly fought over what was best for him, and he hated that it was his fault they fought so much.

He looked at his friendship bracelet; at least he knew Dani would always be around for him, his blue eyes dulled as he heard a crash from downstairs that could not be muffled by a pillow, "Please stop..." Demaro whispered, feeling tears start to clog his throat, "Please stop."

XxXxX

Dani stared at herself in the mirror, smiling to herself with how long her hair was, she twisted it and put it up in a Cecelia twist. She had re-grown her bangs and they now hung dangerously near her eyes. How angry she was, Demaro was just so annoying, he wasn't easy to hang out with anymore. He never laughed much anymore, his smile was rare. His once sparkly blue eyes were dull and bland.

Demaro sat at the top of the stairs, his knees pulled up to his chest, he dreaded going to down every day but he always had to eventually. He trudged down the stairs, his parents sat stiff at opposite ends of the table, "Morning," He mumbled, taking his seat and staring at the countertop.

His mom shifted and slid a bowl of cereal in front of him, "Come on sweetie, eat a little today."

He shook his head, "I'm not hungry."

His dad slammed down the newspaper, "Now listen here, I didn't work so hard for food that you aren't going to eat!"

Demaro looked down, "Sorry, I don't feel hungry; I don't actually feel that great today."

His mother puckered her lips in worry, she placed one of her cool hands on his forehead, "You seem a little warm, but..."

She didn't finish her sentence. "I'm going to see Dani," He whispered and stood up from the table and walked outside.

The fresh morning air felt all wrong around him, he walked subconsciously in the direction of Dani's house, she was the only one left, the only one he knew would never abandon him. He saw her leaving her house, locking the door.

"Hey," He called out.

She turned around, "Hey." She said shortly.

"Are you okay?" He asked cautiously.

"Yeah," She rolled her eyes, "What do you want?"

His eye brows furrowed with how blunt she was being, "Dani, are you mad at me?"

"Oh no," She said sarcastically.

"Look, if I did something that offended you, tell me."

She shook her head, "No, sorry. I need to sort some things out Demaro, I'll see you around."

Demaro suddenly felt worried, if Dani wouldn't talk to him, there was no one else. He glanced at her wrist, where he had grown accustom to her wearing the old, threadbare friendship bracelet. He looked, and it wasn't there.

He suddenly felt dizzy.

"_For as long as we wear these bracelets, we'll always be friends, right?"_

_Dani smiled, "Yeah! Best friends forever!"_

_Demaro held up his pinkie finger, "Promise?"_

_She linked her finger in his, "Promise."_

"Oh sorry," He mumbled, "I'll... See you around." And then he ran, feeling sick. He continued running, but in the back of his mind, he knew, there were just some things you couldn't run from.

XxXxX

Dani suddenly felt guilty, she had been really mean, "Demaro wait..." She tried to call him back, but he was gone already.

Rolling up her sleeve, she looked at the bracelet he had given her so long ago, then it hit her, Demaro hadn't seen the bracelet, he thought that she took it off. She felt really guilty now, she made a step forward in the way Demaro had run, but she knew that she would never catch him.

Forcing back tears she turned around again, "Where do I go now?" She wondered.

"Are you lost?" Someone asked.

Dani looked up and bumped into the person, he had brown bed head hair and sparkly green eyes. Dani noticed they seemed as bright as Demaro's had once been, "H-hi," She said meekly, "I'm sorry..."

She tried to move to the side but the person caught her by the wrist, "Are you okay?" He asked, seeing the tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm just in a fight with my friend, it's okay really..." She tried to leave again, but he didn't let go.

"You don't look okay," He pointed to the potion shop, "You want to sit down?"

She nodded, "Um, sure."

XxXxX

Demaro stopped running and sat down on the ground, leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. His mind reeled, _Why is Dani mad at me?_

_Oh you know already,_his conscious told him, _She's tired of your attitude, ever since your parents told you they were splitting up, you've been just AWFUL to be around._

_What can I do though?_Demaro wondered, _My mom can't support me on her own, when dad leaves, I'm going to have to as well._

_You need to tell her, do you realize how much worse it will be if she has to figure it out for herself._

_She's mad at me! How can I tell her?_

_You need to make up with her._

Demaro sat up, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, _I've got to make up with Dani._With that, he took off for where he had come from, back to Dani.

XxXxX

"You and Demaro have been friends for a long time ha?" He asked.

Dani nodded, "Yeah, I don't know what's going on with him, it's like he's getting more and more depressed every day."

"Did you ever wonder why though?"

"No," She whispered quietly. She shook her head, "I'm sorry to trouble you with my problems; I haven't even asked you what your name was."

He smiled sympathetically, "My name's Blue," he looked into his bag and gave her a bottle of Blossom Juice, "It's alright, sometimes; you need to just tell your problems to someone."

She nodded, "Thank you."

Popping open his own bottle of Blossom Juice, he said, "Do why do you think his attitude might be changing?"

"Well, I don't..." Her eyes widened, "Finance, for as long as I remember, Demaro's family has been in financial trouble."

"And, so what must that do to Demaro's parents?" Blue asked reasonably, then taking a sip from his juice.

"Cause arguments," Dani said slowly, processing her own thoughts. Taking a small sip from her blossom juice, "You don't think his parents are divorcing do you?"

Blue looked down at his juice, "Only he can tell you."

Dani felt like everything was spinning, Demaro, her best friend, _How long has it been going on?_

She turned to Blue, "Thanks a lot for listening to me, it means a lot to me."

He smiled, "No problem." He took another sip from his juice and looked at her, "Smile a little, it looks good on you."

Dani stared at him, a smile slowly spread across her face.

XxXxX

Demaro watched, his heart beating wildly, watching Dani talk to some other guy he didn't even know. He made her smile, and she looked REALLY happy. There was a feeling in Demaro that he never felt before, jealousy. It was always HIM with Dani, It was always HIM that made Dani smile, it was always HIM that Dani talked to, not strangers.

He swung open the door, and it slammed against the wall. His eyes were ablaze with anger and jealousy, "DANI!" He yelled.

She turned, "D-Demaro?" She looked confused with how angry he looked. Dani got up and walked up to him, "Listen, I've been talking to Blue a bit about you and..."

"So now you tell random strangers about me? It's NONE of your business to tell anyone!"

Dani stepped back as if she had been slapped in the face, "I was only..."

"How could you? Who ever said you were allowed to tell people about my personal life? I trusted you!"

"I didn't..." Dani whispered, "I only wanted to understand your feelings..."

Demaro wasn't listening, he glared at Blue, "And who do you think you are? Do you like pick up random girls off the street and listen to them bawl their eyes out, do you try and steal them from other guys?"

Blue didn't move, "I don't."

Dani looked hurt, "I'm not yours!" She yelled, "I never was, I never am, and I never will be!" She ran out of the shop leaving Demaro and Blue.

He got up and looked at him, "You're really messed up, you know that?" Without saying anything more, he shouldered Demaro and walked out.

XxXxX

Dani went home, her parents were out and she was alone. She felt tears run down her face, Demaro's angry face kept flashing through her mind.

She heard a knock at the door, "Dani! Dani! Listen to me! I'm sorry! Can we please talk this over?"

"GO AWAY!" She screamed, sinking into one of the kitchen chairs, rubbing her tears away with the back of her hand.

"DANI! I'm sorry!" Demaro pounded the door with his fist, "Please give me a chance!"

She got up and trudged down the hallway, opening the door she stared at him. Her eyes blood-shot and red from crying, she looked so hurt, "What?"

His words got caught in his throat, "I'm so sorry," Just like he would when they were little, he pulled her in and hugged her, whenever she had cried, that's what he did, and she never pulled away, until then.

"Sorry isn't enough this time Demaro," She whispered, "Why can't you trust me? I was talking to Blue, trying to understand why you were acting like you are, and all you did was yell at me!"

He wanted to reach out and hug her again, but he knew he shouldn't, "I'm sorry, I thought you and Blue... I got jealous, I didn't mean anything, I'm really sorry."

Dani looked up, "I figured out, the reason you're always sad, your parents, they're splitting up, aren't they?" she whispered softly.

Demaro looked down, "Yes."

"I'm really hurt you know," She said quietly, "That you would accuse me of talking about your most personal secrets to strangers, you know I would never do that."

"But you told him about our financial stuff, you know I hate talking about it."

"But what else could I say?" She wondered, "There's not much I can do."

"Please forgive me," He begged, "I'm so sorry Dani."

"I... I forgive you," Dani said finally.

"Listen, my mom... She can't support me anymore," Demaro whispered, "I have to leave Dani, I have to go with my dad, to El Nath, that's where his new job is."

"E-El Nath?" Dani asked.

He nodded, "I wish I could stay, but I can't." He turned, "Look, I have to go."

She reached out and grabbed his sleeve, "Who's your dad working for?" She whispered.

Demaro turned back, staring at Dani, he looked at her and she rolled up her sleeve, revealing her friendship bracelet. "You can trust me," She said.

"My dad's new company?" Demaro repeated, he began walking away and only glanced back to tell her, "The Black Wings Corporation."

Chapter 11 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Phew! One more chapter to go!<strong>

**Alala: PLEASE REVIEW!**


	12. Neon Prison

**Me: Last chapter that's written!**

**Dani: Mikashi doesn't own Maplestory.**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 12: Neon Prison

Demaro smiled maliciously, "Lirex! Get down here!" Lirex crashed down the tree and came to Demaro's side, twigs and leaves stuck to his black robes.

"So sweet Dani," Demaro whispered lowly, he leaned his staff forward to touch her neck, "Are you ready to die?"

Dani gulped and bit her lip, "Y-you wouldn't."

"Oh but I must," He hissed.

She closed her eyes; the cool metal of the staff seemed to trigger all her emotions, like it was trying to influence her. The icy blue haze casting on her face like a shadow. Dani looked around at all her friends and back at her traitor of a best friend, She took a slow step back, feeling to protesting pull of the magical orb, "Run." She murmured.

It took a few seconds for her words to register into everyone's thoughts. Blue reacted first, running towards the forest, grabbing Carole and Kuro along with him. Dani whipped around and ran blindly after Blue. "GET THEM!" Demaro yelled to Lirex, the two running after the run-aways.

Kuro and Carole broke off from Blue and began to run; turning around only for second, Blue swung his staff and coated the forest entrance in a thick sheet of ice. Screaming muffled words, Demaro and Lirex slowed down and began trying to demolish the ice. Dani scrambled up beside Blue, "Come on!"

The 4 ran until they found Helena, Resi, Alala and Violet farther back in the forest, Violet looked better, her skin no longer looked green, but she looked as fragile as a china doll, like any exertion would break her. "RUN!" Kuro yelled to them, "They're trailing us!"

From afar they heard Demaro yell, "Ifrit!"

An explosion, the shattering of ice, "HURRY!" Jumping up and mounting his prototype in one fluent motion he scanned the girls still trying to comprehend what was happening. "Helena! Take Alala and Dani on your jaguar, I'll make sure Violet doesn't get too jostled around."

Violet stood up and reached up and Kuro grabbed her. She settled herself in front of Kuro, sitting on the floor of the prototype at Kuro's knees. Helena whistled and her purple jaguar came bounding through the trees, "Come on then!" Helena said, jumping on, Dani and Alala clambered onto the seat with her.

Blue closed his eyes, "Come on, come on..." He murmured, with a flash of blue light, he disappeared and re-appeared a few feet away, sometimes it would work sometimes it wouldn't, it was all a matter of chance. "Why didn't I work on this skill more?" He stamped his foot on the ground.

Carole rolled her eyes, "Just grab on to the dark chain if you can't."

"I don't need your help!" Blue cried indignantly.

"NO ARGUING!" Kuro yelled, he and Helena began racing forward.

"IFRIT!" Demaro yelled, a tree a few yards away from them caught on fire. The dry leaves and twigs around it flaming and snaking across the ground towards them.

Carole and Resi wrapped their dark chain around trees and began propelling themselves forward. Blue yelled out in frustration but began teleporting, glimpses of blue light flashing in between trees.

"Chain lightning!" White hot electricity struck a nearby tree, catching it on fire as well. The smoke began thickening the air. Each breath was a struggle, but they kept going.

The fire was on the eight's heels. It was chaotic, all of them were screaming. Lirex grabbed Demaro by the wrist and stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Demaro yelled, trying to move forward, "We need to get them!"

"Let them run, all of our stuff is still in the cave, we need to go back for it. Klaus is still there too."

"But they'll get away!" Demaro strained against his partner.

Lirex got out his communication device, "I'll take care of that."

He clicked a button, "Hello?" A voice asked. It sounded fuzzy and static crackled the line.

"We have 8 people in need of capture headed for Elinia, can you catch them and keep them there for a while? We'll be there tomorrow morning for them."

"8 you say? That's a lot of people you know."

Demaro groaned and grabbed the phone, "Listen. There are 8, we only need 4 of them alive. The resistance, the ones wearing the green rings, those are the ones we want. Kill the rest."

"Tall order," The man on the other side replied, "But do-able, don't be late." He hung up and left the two in the silence of the forest. The fire had begun rushing backward into their direction.

Lirex began running back towards Perion, "Come on. Let's go back to the cave."

XxXxX

The air was losing oxygen, fast. Thick black smoke smeared Kuro's eyes, so bad he almost couldn't see. Violet lay in front of him, coughing, she was struggling for every breath, still so fragile from spore fever.

Kuro had a cloth wrapped over his mouth and nose, taking it off, he threw it at Violet, "Cover your mouth and nose!" He yelled, and she quickly obeyed.

Helena's jaguar was panting, unable to breathe like everyone else. "Come on, come on," Helena whispered soothingly, "A little farther! We've got to outrun the fire!"

Blue was flashing all over the place, tiring, feeling dizzy from all the teleporting. He re-appeared once, and almost fell over. He was exhausted, but he had to keep going, Kuro and Helena couldn't take any more people to carry. He felt his two wrist being grasped, one by Carole and one by Resi. They pulled him along with them, "C-come on!" Resi wheezed.

The fire was running right at them, they could feel it, like someone trying to reach forward and grab their heels. Kuro could begin to see the ending of the forest. He slammed on the many levers on his prototype and forced it to go faster. "Little farther, little farther!" Fuzzy black dots began obscuring his vision, he began coughing uncontrollably, "Come on. Come on. COME ON."

The light was getting brighter, the eight forcing through the last few metres. Kuro vaguely felt himself crash through the edge of the forest into Elinia, with Helena's jaguar on his left side, and Carole, Resi and Blue on his left. They fell flat on the ground panting, coughing, and struggling for every breath.

Kuro reached forward for Violet, to get her out of the prototype. She had her face covered with the cloth and seemed like she was breathing fine. Heavily, but fine. Her face was flushed and she began moving out of the way. Kuro saw splotches of black in his vision, he was trying to take a breath, but it was like his body forgot how to.

Violet screamed and Kuro could hear the gears of his prototype collapsing. Kuro felt light-headed the world was gray and spinning. He was confused, the sun blazing in his face. Its bright lights blinding his eyes. He felt his eye-lids droop, taking in a thin, shaky breath his eyes closed and all he saw was darkness.

XxXxX

Kuro woke up, settled in a blanket, with a cold washcloth on his forehead. He looked up to see the sun smothered leaves of Elinia trees, rustling quietly in the breeze. His friends were walking all around him.

"Most of my arrows got burned," Alala murmured quietly, tossing her arrows with a crash into a pile that sounded like there were already many things there.

"T-this is no good either," Violet continued, throwing something else.

"At this rate we won't have anything left but ourselves." Blue hissed angrily.

"It can't be helped," Helena mumbled.

Kuro felt a sharp pain in his right arm, that finally made him say something, "Ow!" He moaned, instantly biting his lip to keep quiet.

All the rustling stopped, everyone looked at him. "Kuro!" Violet exclaimed, they all scrambled to sit near him.

"What happened?" He groaned, trying to sit up. His attempt made him feel dizzy and he almost slammed his head on the ground.

Helena caught him, "Easy, easy. Don't push yourself."

"What happened?" He asked again.

Violet looked away, "I'm sorry." She said at once.

"What?" Kuro asked, "Why are you...?"

"It's my fault," She whispered, "You gave me the cloth you were using, you inhaled a lot of smoke. If you hadn't given me it... You never would have gotten this bad."

"Violet," Kuro began, "You were weaker than me, you needed it more."

"But if I hadn't..." She whimpered.

Alala tried to console her, "Violet, it's not your fault."

Kuro shook his head, wincing as his arm throbbed, "What's wrong with my arm?"

"When we got into Elinia, your prototype was so badly burned, it collapsed while you were still on it." Helena whispered quietly, "You fell on that arm, and passed out. Your arm might be fractured."

Kuro groaned again, "Is there some fancy potion thing you know of that can fix it?"

Helena looked down, "No. I just know how to make a cast; it takes at least 6 weeks to heal."

She carefully took hold of his arm, and he nearly yelled with all the pain. Helena noticed his pained expression, "I'm so sorry!" She wailed, beginning to fix a cast together, "Hold on, I'll be through soon."

Blue cleared his throat, "I think we should continue looking through the supplies." Dani, Carole, Resi and Alala followed him to the smouldering pile of stuff they had with them. Kuro winced again as Helena continued with the cast. "I'm so sorry!" Violet whimpered again, "This is all my fault, I..."

"Violet, stop," Kuro whispered, "It's not your fault, it's my fault for not having another cloth."

"But it's my fault for not having one!"

"It's okay," Kuro said softly, "I was being reckless, it's my own punishment."

Violet looked down, her hair falling in front of her face. Kuro noticed it was multiple inches shorter, the ends burned. Kuro suddenly felt guilty, he hadn't been fast enough to keep her from the fire.

Helena finished with the cast. "Come Violet, we need to let Kuro rest a bit."

"Right," She whispered, getting up slowly and taking Helena's hand, she looked back and said to Kuro again, "I'm sorry."

XxXxX

The afternoon wore on, and Kuro found the energy to stand up and walk around. He noticed the others were always near him, as if they thought he might fall again. "I'm fine," He answered to their constant questioning.

"You're sure?" Dani asked again.

"Fine."

Eventually, the others lightened up, and he found time to be on his own. He would sit against a tree to catch his breath every so often, staring at the tall entrance of the dimensional mirror. It's glassy glow reflecting at him, like a mysterious person was watching him.

Violet stumbled a little before sitting beside him, "You're tired." He said to her.

She shook her head, "No, you need to rest, not me. I'm better now, I need to take on your workload."

He stayed silent, "You shouldn't push yourself for my sake you know."

"I'm not," She said curtly, "I'm doing it for the sake of everyone."

He continued staring at dimensional mirror. Violet suddenly stiffened beside him, "Did you hear that?" She whispered sharply.

"What?" He asked.

"The voice, coming from the mirror!" She hissed.

"What voice? I can't hear it."

Violet stood up and pulled Kuro by the wrist, "Come!" She dragged him to the mirror.

She dragged him to the dimensional mirror, "Listen."

Kuro stopped talking and strained to hear a faint whisper coming from the dimensional mirror, "Dear adventurers and resistance. I've heard about you. I hear you are low on supplies and some are wounded or still weak." Kuro quickly glanced at his bandaged arm, "You will not be safe in Elinia for long, the people after you will soon find you. I can provide you a place to stay hidden. I am Speigelmann, the master of disguise." The whisper stopped.

Kuro glanced at Violet, "How did you hear that from so far away?"

"I have no idea," She replied sheepishly. They heard a low whisper, and the message from Spiegelmann began to repeat.

"Let's show the others," Kuro suggested.

XxXxX

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Blue scowled, crossing his arms.

"Come on Blue," Dani said good-naturedly.

"I don't want to go..." Blue said again.

Carole grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "Oh who cares what you think, we all agree so we're going."

Blue smacked her, "Don't touch me! I'm just saying, doesn't it seem the least bit suspicious that..."

Carole wasn't listening, she took a step into the dimensional mirror, the glass allowing her passage, it felt cool and silky on her foot, "Come on."

Blue sulked but followed the rest of his companions into the dimensional mirror.

Chapter 12 End.

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Resi: PLEASE REVIEW!**


	13. Almost Over

**Me: Hi!**

**Blue: ... You realize how bad you update right?**

**Me: Hey! ... Yeah I know.**

**Blue: :P**

**Me: Well, this story isn't even popular...**

**Blue: No excuse.**

**Me: ... I do not own Maple Story!**

* * *

><p><span>Maple Story Adventures<span>

Chapter 13: Almost Over

With another snap of his fingers, Speigelmann sent down two remote controls, one red and the other blue. They hovered above the eight's heads before finally, the blue one stopped in front of Carole, and the red one at Blue. "Team captains," Speigelmann said, "It is your job to control mobs, skills and buffs." He laughed, "You must also keep your team-mates alive."

Carole frowned, but reached for the remote. It was in the shape of a lego block, a deep blue the colour of the night sky. There were 3 buttons on it, mob, skills and buffs. Hesitantly, Carole clicked on the 'mob' button. With a jerk that caused Carole to drop the remote in surprise, a hologram screen filtered from the side, projecting different monsters. She reached down to get it, "You have selected Robo, would you like to confirm?"

"W-what?" She asked, "No!"

"Confirmed. You do not have enough Carnival Points to complete transaction."

Carole rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, can't this thing hear?"

Blue took the red controller, he clicked 'skills', the hologram screen appeared on the side, glancing through them, Blue picked one at random, "You have selected Stun (1), would you like to confirm?"

Smirking Blue said, "Yes."

"Transaction was cancelled."

Carole snorted, "Idiot."

"Oh shut up!" Blue yelled, "It's not like yours listened to you either."

"At least mine will summon stuff, yours will cancel everything!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"QUIET!" Speigelmann yelled.

Carole and Blue stopped arguing. "Carole," Kuro said slowly, "You better not mess up."

Her eye twitched, "Why would I?" She huffed.

"I'm just saying," Kuro whispered, "After all, our lives very much depend on you."

Carole swallowed, "Well, we're not going to die, we just can't."

Blue rolled his eyes, "Enough cheesy talk," He looked up, "Are we going to start or what?"

"Blue," Violet whispered, tugging on his sleeve, "It sounds like you actually want to go through with this."

Blue's eyes were dark, "The point of Monster Carnival is to win, to succeed. I want those five levels, don't you? You'd be high enough to job advance!"

"But I..." Violet murmured.

Blue closed his eyes, "You can do whatever you want, but I'm here to win."

Dani tried to put her hand on his shoulder, "Now wait a minute..."

Blue slapped her hand away, "No."

The two girls were wide-eyed. Blue looked deadly. Speigelmann laughed, the first one had fallen, power could make a person go crazy, and sometimes friendship just wasn't enough.

XxXxX

Speigelmann's voiced boomed out, "Let the carnival BEGIN!" A force knocked the two teams to opposite sides of the room. In a fraction of a second all the monsters began moving, racing towards them. Resi screamed, Blue sent out bolt of lightning that struck a mob of robo, their robotic screams piercing the ears of everyone.

"Blue what's wrong with you?" Violet yelled, trying to grab his arm, but he pressed forward.

"Violet, LET GO."

"Stop this! Are you actually saying you'd kill our friends?" She demanded, turning him to face her. His eyes were dark and unreadable, "Come on, where's the Blue I know?"

"In a situation like this," Blue whispered harshly, "you have to make sacrifices for yourself, it's either you make it out of here or you don't, it's as simple as that. Is friendship with them, really more important than your own life?"

Violet looked as if she had been slapped across the face, "I..."

Blue pulled away from her, "If you can't choose, it just shows how weak you are." He took off running towards another platform of monsters, leaving Violet dumbstruck.

"You know, if you just stand there, you're going to get hurt," Violet turned around, Kuro stood behind her, his expression similar to that of Blue's, and it scared her.

"K-Kuro?" She whispered.

"I want you to run, right now, can you do that?" He asked.

"O-of course I can! Just because I was sick doesn't mean I can't run," Violet argued, "Why?"

Running his fingers across one of the guns that had survived the fire, he whispered, "Because I don't want to be the one to kill you."

Her eyes drew back, her lips parted. She looked so shocked Kuro felt pain in the pit of his stomach. This was so wrong; you didn't kill your best friends.

Kuro twirled the gun in his fingers, "Go on."

Violet scrambled away, tears in her eyes. _I thought my friends wouldn't compete in something like this; this is so inhumane, what's happening?_

She stopped and hid in a corner of the room, the monsters screaming in pain, in victory. The faces of the people she knew and loved. The others seemed to try and keep away from each other. And then she saw Kuro and Blue, standing in front of the other. Their expressions were malicious, staring down at the other, watching every move. Kuro had his gun positioned; the only thing that kept him from shooting it was the threat of Blue sending a hot rod of lightning at him.

Violet stood up, her legs shaky with fear. Regaining her balance, she ran forward to both of them, grabbing Kuro from behind his good arm, she smacked the gun out of his hand, "Wha- OW!" Kuro yelped.

"Violet! What are you doing?" Blue demanded he wanted to send an attack at Kuro now that he was defenceless, but even with his plan to kill; he couldn't kill his own team mate in the process.

"YOU NEED TO STOP!" Violet screamed, "This isn't right!"

"You can't say that!" Blue yelled at her, "If you stay soft your whole life, it will get you nowhere."

Violet looked down, her dark bangs covering her eyes, "Maybe your right," She whispered, "But, I don't want to do this. I've grown so close to all of you, I can't... I can't be the one to end your life. It's hardly just begun."

XxXxX

Meanwhile, Lirex, Demaro and Klaus had finally made it to Ellinia. "That took so long," Demaro mumbled angrily.

"Calm down," Lirex rolled his eyes, "We've got to hurry up and grab the resistance from Speigelmann while we can."

Klaus followed clumsily behind, his face covered with scratches. He had been hit by all the branches bent back to make room for his two masters in front of him.

"How are we going to get them out?" Klaus asked hastily, wringing his hands together.

"We can't just walk in and take them," Demaro continued, "It's obvious those little adventurers will not give them up to us." He sighed, "I honestly don't feel like fighting them right now."

"So what DO you plan on doing?" Lirex interrupted, "It's obvious you're a little soft with the red head."

Demaro didn't answer. They walked in silence for a moment before he said, "I'm not. Why do you think I tried to kill her if I was soft on her?"

Lirex smiled, enjoying using his partner's weak point against him, "Please," He scoffed, "You could have killed her when you had the chance. You hesitated too long so she got away."

"I'm allowed to make mistakes," He snapped, "I don't have a soft spot for her. The next time I get the chance, I'll get rid of her."

"Right," Lirex rolled his eyes. "KLAUS!"

"Y-yes?" He squeaked, backing a step away.

Lirex hit him on the head with his staff, "Go over to Arwen the fairy's, we need something from her."

"W-w-what would that be?" Klaus muttered, staring at the ground. He had some sort of phobia towards fairies. Not including his many others.

Demaro reached into his cloak and handed him a rolled up scroll. "Just give her this, that should be enough."

"O-okay!" Klaus answered, before stumbling off towards the fairy's home.

XxXxX

Alala shot an arrow at a nearby robo. Wiping the sweat off her brow she said to herself, "This is crazy."

She jumped off a platform and saw from down below, Violet, Kuro and Blue. Violet was holding Kuro by the arm and Blue was in front of them, holding his staff out dangerously.

_What are they talking about? _She wondered. Over the noise, she heard Violet yell something. _Are they really planning on hurting each other?_

"What're you doing?" Alala yelped in surprise, almost afraid of getting hurt. But it was just Dani, staring at her with questioning eyes.

"Look," The raven-headed girl pointed to the 3 below them, "They're fighting." She paused before adding, "I think they're really going to hurt each other."

"Power can really change people," Dani told her, "Blue is very power hungry."

"What do you mean?" Alala asked. She pressed her lips together in a fine line, "What does power hungry mean?"

"Power hungry," Dani repeated, "He's wanted to be on the top for a long time. When he has the chance to grow and become stronger, he won't stop until he gets it." She paused, "The fact that Speigelmann is offering him the chance to become stronger makes him uncontrollable."

"Why is he like that?"

"His childhood experiences," The red-head replied, "Remember Riena? He couldn't protect her and he's hated himself ever since."

"That wasn't his fault," Alala interjected.

"It doesn't matter," Dani shook her head and sighed, "He wasn't strong enough to defend her, so he's been hungry to be powerful ever since."

"So no matter how strong he is, he wants more?" Alala asked cautiously, "I mean, he is the highest level of all 4 of us, isn't that enough?"

"That's how he is. Nothing will ever be enough. And, I'm not sure if there's anything we can do for him to make him see that he doesn't need to be the strongest to be a winner."

XxXxX

"U-um," Klaus stammered. He was standing outside Arwen the fairy's house and awkwardly began knocking on the heavy wooden door.

The door slowly opened, creaking eerily as it was opened. A small fairy with small squinting eyes stood in front of him. The inside of her house was very dark and Klaus gulped nervously. The blonde fairy stood in front of him for a few moments before speaking, "What do you want?" She asked airily. Her voice sounding of that of a school child, yet as mature as any adult.

"I-I," Klaus muttered, "My masters wanted to give you this!" He shoved the scroll into the fairy's hand.

"Who are your masters?" She asked softly, pulling back her blue headband.

"L-Lirex and Demaro," He stuttered aimlessly, "T-they said if I gave this to you, you would u-understand..."

Meanwhile, the fairy wasn't listening to him. Instead, she unrolled the scroll and began to read it over. "I see," She whispered, her voice mysterious and unemotional, "Okay, send them here. I will have everything set up for them when they arrive."

"O-okay," Lirex squealed, "I-I'll get them right away!"

XxXxX

"We've got to try and stop them," Alala pressed on, "Levels or no levels, I can't watch them hurt each other."

"I can't either," The pair turned to see Resi, Carole and Helena. Carole shifted her weight to her other foot, "No matter how much I hate the sight of that colour named freak, I can't just kill him like he's nothing."

"We've already decided not to fight," Helena continued calmly, "Would you two join us?"

"I will," Alala agreed, "I can't stand hurting any of you."

Dani hesitated, almost afraid that one of them would backstab her. Finally, she sighed, "I will too."

"We need to stop Kuro and Blue," Resi continued. "They are actually willing to hurt each other. The only reason they haven't, is because of Violet. She's been pleading with them to stop."

"Blue will only stop when Kuro does," Dani answered.

The 5 girls gathered together in a circle, "But Kuro will only stop when Blue stops," Helena continued, countering Dani's own thought. "The only way they will stop is if they both agree to stop."

XxXxX

Lirex and Demaro sat impatiently outside the armour shop in Ellinia. They were getting many terrified looks from onlookers. No one in Ellinia was very used to having dark magicians stalk out their armour shop.

Demaro was scowling. Lirex was constantly pressing him on the subject of Dani. How do you know her? Why didn't you kill her? Why are you so bothered by her? It was quite annoying. To his relief, although it didn't show on his stoic face, Klaus came stumbling back towards them.

"What did Arwen say?" Lirex asked, tapping his fingers on the wall of the armour shop.

"She s-said," Klaus mumbled, "To come. She'd have everything set when you arrive."

Demaro smiled, his eyes glowing maliciously, "Excellent."

XxXxX

"Violet, I know this is hard. It's mental, but let go off me!" Kuro tried to wretch his arm away from her grip, but she held fast.

"No! I won't!" She yelled, "Both agree to stop and I will."

"Violet," Blue continued harshly, "You won't get anywhere in life like this. The whole point of a life like ours is to become more and more powerful."

"You're wrong," Violet whispered softly.

"Excuse me?" He hissed, "You know what?" His eyes looked as if on fire, "You may be my team mate, but I swear, if you don't let go of Kuro RIGHT now..."

"No!" Violet screamed, "Don't you realize? You guys are brothers to me! I love you! I can't watch any of you die!"

"She's right," The 3 looked up, to see Helena, Alala, Dani, Resi and Carole. Carole looked to Blue, "You know, maybe I don't know what happened in your past, but I'll tell you this. No matter how powerful you get, it's not going to change your past."

He looked up to her with a dangerous look in his eyes, "You have no right to say that."

"There's a thing called freedom of speech," She retorted.

"You will never know what it's like!" Blue yelled, "Watching a young girl die. Knowing that she had dreams, that she had feelings and have it thrown away by heartless devils!"

"OH YEAH?" Carole shouted in response, "Maybe I do! You don't know my own experiences. What if you watched your family die right in front of your eyes!"

The whole group was silent. "Yeah that's right," Carole hissed, "I had a family who loved me. They promised to protect me and I watched as they fulfilled their promise. I watched as my family was murdered right in front of my eyes."

"I..." Blue was at a loss for words. What right did he have to say something? "I'm sorry." He whispered finally.

"There's no point in trying to be so so powerful," Carole whispered, "It won't change the fact that the young girl you met died. It won't change the fact that I will never see my family again."

"I..."

"And look what you're doing," Carole whispered, "In seeking power, you will kill people who love you. Wasn't the point of becoming powerful to save lives? Not destroy them?"

Blue was silent. Lowering his staff as a form of surrender. Kuro looked to Violet and she let go. It was over.

The aspiring ice lightning mage took a step forward. "Carole... I..."

Then suddenly, the whole room began to quake. Violet let out an ear-splitting scream. The old, dusty room began trembling. The bricks began crumbling and falling. The 5 girls who had been standing on the platform jumped down to Violet, Kuro and Blue. Rubble began falling from the ceiling. The group of 8 rushed under a nearby platform.

There was a loud crash; the whole wall in front of them broke off completely. Sunlight blinded their eyes and they gasped. Lirex and Demaro stood in the huge gap in the wall. Their staffs glowing a bright, dazzling shade of gold. Klaus stood behind them, twiddling his fingers.

"R-run!" Violet yelled to her friends. It was a chance to escape. If they could make it passed Demaro and Lirex, they would be free of the wretched monster carnival for good.

Dani stood frozen. She locked eyes with Demaro and he stared at her with such intensity, she had no idea what to do.

"Dani! Come on!" Alala pulled her by the arm.

"Right," She breathed, running alongside the others. There was just something about their staffs that were different. They glowed so brightly, in such an intense shade of gold that it wasn't normal. The way Demaro looked at her. He had an expression of smugness. An expression of boldness.

Lirex smiled to his partner, "Get them."

Demaro smirked and lifting his staff. It glowed a bright hot white and they were blinded.

XxXxX

Violet heard screams. She reached for something, anything to hold onto. Dani took her hand. Soon, the light cleared away and the 4 adventurers gasped. Demaro had the resistance in a cloud of sparkling gold. They were unable to move. Lirex took their weapons from them.

"WAIT!" Violet screamed. She let go of Dani's hand in a futile effort to save her friends. Running as fast as she could she jumped and reached for them.

"Violet! NO!" Blue yelled after her. But it was no use.

"We're out of here," Lirex smirked, nodding to Demaro who turned on his heel. With a bright flash, Violet strained to reach out and grab onto them. There was a loud crack and Alala, Dani and Blue covered their ears. Demaro, Lirex and Klaus were gone.

Hearing a small clank on the pavement, Alala, Blue and Dani looked ran towards the open in the wall. The 4 resistance's friendship rings were on the ground, broken and glistening in the sunlight.

They had finally captured the resistance. But they had taken Violet with them.

**Maple Story Adventures: Book 1 End.**

* * *

><p><strong>Me: Bwaha. Cliffhanger ending!<strong>

**Violet: Omg...**

**Me: Yay for finishing the first book! PLEASE REVIEW!**


End file.
